


The Wild Card//George Weasley

by anonwritercentral



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, F/M, Fanfiction, Hogwarts is a College | University, NSFW, Protective George Weasley, Second War with Voldemort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:27:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 76,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29345880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anonwritercentral/pseuds/anonwritercentral
Summary: 20 year old Evie Goddard has lived her whole life in the isolation of the American magical society. Now, she's attending her father's alma mater and learning what it really means to be a witch, and what it means to be a Goddard. Her father said she may be 'famous', but not for this reason. She's discovering love, sexuality, and her true power. Hogwarts is anything but normal, and this young witch might just save more than just herself.*DISCLAIMER* JKR's beliefs are abhorrent and I do not support her. In writing this, I seek to remove her from this world so we, the fans, can reclaim it as our own. JKR can get bent.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Original Female Character(s), Fred Weasley & George Weasley, George Weasley/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	1. The Stupid Trunk

**Preface**

I feel it’s important to give context before beginning this story. While this story takes place in the Harry Potter Universe, it does not necessarily follow all the events of the books- it is, quite frankly, a universe of its own. All your favorite characters are in it though, and I added some characters of my own too.

This takes place at what I call ‘Hogwarts University.’ There’s something deeply unsettling to me about writing this type of fanfiction when the characters are minors, so for all intents and purposes they will be aged up. Students attend Hogwarts from ages 18-24 in the same way we do college. Prior to Hogwarts, wealthy wizarding families hire private tutors from ages 10-18 to teach their children basic schooling and wizarding instruction. All other wizarding children who do not have the money for private tutors attend the public school provided by the Ministry of Magic. Again, they just receive basic schooling and wizarding instruction, and they arrive via the Floo network everyday so it is not a boarding school.

Children from muggle families, unfortunately, are not allowed to be contacted by the Ministry of Magic (or Hogwarts for that matter) until they are 18. This is due to a treaty between the muggle Prime Minister and the Minister of Magic. This puts muggle-born children at a serious disadvantage when they arrive to Hogwarts, as they truly have to start from the beginning. This is why all 1st and 2nd year students have to take basic classes, no matter their prior schooling experiences, before beginning their harder course work. Honestly, Hogwarts is so elite in their instruction that those first two years are necessary even with the wealthy children as most were either taught incorrectly or their form has become lazy.

At the end of 2nd year, students select a “Concentration” which is the equivalent to college majors, as we know them in the States. Along with their coursework for their Concentration, students are required to select either another Concentration with two sub-concentrations (so a double concentration), or three sub-concentrations in addition to their main concentration. Because wizards are much older and are studying much more advanced magic, certain rules like the one that prevents students from apparating on school grounds isn’t in place. Some students choose Apparition as there concentration, so the ability to practice effectively is necessary. Similarly, since the students are young adults, they have the freedom to go to Hogsmeade after classes if they choose so long as they are back before the midnight curfew.

I won’t give many details about our main character, however I will tell you that I have chosen not to write details of her physical appearance. Though she has a name and is not left as ‘y/n’, I still would like to give the readers who enjoy envisioning themselves in the story the opportunity to do so without the constraints of assigned physical traits. I will tell you that our main character is an American transfer. You will get the details about that in the story, but I want to make some clarifications about the transfer process. The only students accepted to Hogwarts from other places outside the UK and Ireland is children of legacies. A student must have one parent be a graduate of Hogwarts in order to be offered admission if they are from another country.

I want to make some quick notes about the American system when it comes to magic. Wizards in the U.S. tend to be very isolated as it can be very dangerous for a hint of magic to end up in the no-maj world. American no-majs are still gravely terrified of the idea of ‘witchcraft’ and have been known to arrest and jail innocent no-majs just on the suspicion of witchcraft. As you can probably imagine, they have never actually jailed a real wizard, as there are laws within the MACUSA (the Magical Congress of the United States of America) that are much more terrifying about exposing no-majs to magic in the United States. Any magic performed even within 300 yards of a no-maj can be grounds for immediate arrest via appartition.

In order to stay safe and keep the wizarding world a secret, children of wizards in the U.S. are homeschooled by default. There is not a public education option provided by the MACUSA, so magic instruction is entirely dependent on the parents (I know J.K. Rowling created Ilvermony but that’s not a thing in my universe so just go with it). The MACUSA STILL enforces the no-maj segregation policy meaning that wizards cannot marry no-majs. This segregation policy, in addition to the homeschooling requirement, has led the U.S. to have a rapidly decreasing wizarding population. As most wizarding adults work long hours for the MACUSA, there isn’t much time for them to teach their children. This results in most children never getting past the basics of magic, so there are not many strong American wizards. Similarly, wizarding universities are forbidden from operating in the U.S. by the MACUSA, and most of the wizarding universities around the world either have legacy policies or are too expensive for American students. Many American wizards in the past couple generations had fled the country when they learned they were expecting a child as most other countries have public education options (and more freedom for wizards in general); however, Voldemort’s dark magic movement has terrified many into staying in the U.S. where they feel safe.

This is taking place in modern times so that certain aspects can be added. Cell phones are used some, but I chose not to include social media as I see it as a distraction.

One final note, this is a fanfiction that features R-rated (and sometimes X-rated) content. There is cursing, sex, drugs, and alcohol, so if this is not the kind of story you’re looking for, now is your chance to skip on. Similarly, if you are reading this only looking for some smut, I’m sorry to say that I don’t believe this is a story for you either. Don’t get me wrong, there is sex in here, but there is an actual story involved that has a lot more going on than just sex. I took time crafting this story as something that I enjoy both writing and reading, so I hope you find it enjoyable to read as well.

So now that you have the necessary context, I invite you to step into my twist on the Harry Potter Universe:

**Chapter One: The Stupid Trunk**

I stared down at the massive trunk in front of me, absolutely bewildered by the size. I’m pretty sure I could fit myself comfortably in there and close the lid without feeling a speck of claustrophobia. Why can’t I just bring a suitcase with an extension charm? It makes no sense to have to drag this behemoth along when I have something a lot smaller, lighter, and cuter.

“It builds character, all students have to lug one of those things around- its tradition!” my father had told me during one of the many times I had complained about my upcoming transfer. I still wasn’t sure why in the world I had to start going to a University for wizards. I had been homeschooled since I was 11 and first found out I was a witch, and I don’t see why I need anyone other than my father teaching me.

He had reiterated it numerous times; “It’s my alma mater, so of course you have to go! Besides, many of those professors are the ones who taught me everything I know. I’m sure by the time you come back you’ll be even more powerful than me. And Hogwarts is the safest place on this planet for you to be right now- I trust Dumbledore with my life, and he’s the only person I trust with yours.”

His face always twisted up when he mentioned that last part, and I’m sure it’s because he was holding deep sadness about my mother still. She had passed away when I was only a young child and it had been hard on him having to raise me alone. My father doesn’t have any relatives, as he had been an orphan living in orphanages (and later on the streets) until his 18th birthday when he received an acceptance letter from Hogwarts University of Witchcraft and Wizardry, so my father had no help in raising me.

I had been in the house when my mother died, hiding upstairs in the attic during our game of hide and seek. I wasn’t supposed to be up there, so after what felt like hours of hiding, I climbed down and called out for her.

“Mommy, you never came to find me!” I yelled out in the house.

It echoed through our long halls, falling on deaf ears. _She must be downstairs_ I thought to myself, so I walked down the hall to the spiral stairs. I checked every floor: the 3rd, the 2nd, and time seemed to move slower and slower as I descended to the first. My heart was racing and I wasn’t sure why. When I reached the 1st floor, I noticed the door was slightly cracked. _Maybe she had gone outside?_

I stepped outside and called out to her, “Mommy! Mommy, are you out here?” Yet again, I was met only by silence. I walked back into the house, and just as I was about to head for the kitchen a little glitter of sunlight caught my eye. It was from inside my father’s study, where the door was also slightly cracked. _Is daddy home already?_ He was away on a business trip and wasn’t supposed to return until the next day. _What a wonderful surprise that he’s home early!_ I didn’t know I could be so wrong.

I ran towards his study, the biggest smile forming on my face at the thought of hugging him. What I saw wiped that smile off in an instant. There were books and papers all over the ground, and in the middle of them lay my mother. Still as could be, eyes wide open, but not a single breath came from her lips. I don’t know what happened to me. I didn’t scream, or cry, I didn’t even flinch honestly. My body felt numb. I just walked over to her, sat down on the ground, and grabbed her cold hand. I laid on the dark hardwood floor and stared at the white ceiling for what felt like ages- never letting go of her hand.

I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I saw was my father’s face as he picked me up off the ground and into his arms. He was sobbing so hard no noise came out. I had never seen my father cry before, and this was almost more painful than looking at my mother’s dead eyes. A few days later my father told me my mother had suffered a seizure and that she had most likely knocked the books and papers down when she fell. I didn’t even know my parents were wizards at that point, but it was always a fear in the back of my mind after I found out the truth- that wizards with all their power were still vulnerable to the will of Death.

I shook my head from side to side, trying to erase the memory from my mind. My room came back into view and I was once again left staring at this monster of a trunk.


	2. Leaving the Nest

After packing away the heaviest books I’ve ever held, loads of parchment paper, every piece of clothing I owned, new robes, quills, and lots of ink, I finally closed the stupid trunk. Seriously, have these people never heard of mechanical pencils? Or regular paper for that matter? Once again, I could hear my father’s voice saying, “It’s tradition!!” Tradition or not, I knew this was going to be a pain in my ass to do schoolwork with.

“Dad! Can you please come help me with this stupid trunk! It’s too heavy for me to drag down the stairs!” I called out.

We moved after my mother died, but my father had a knack for picking out houses that were unreasonably tall and narrow. As one might imagine, the stairs are a bitch and a half, and my dumbass lived on the very top floor. It was nice because the entire floor was a big open room just for me, but getting up and down was not ideal. When it was only my father and I in the house I would just apparate wherever I needed to go, but father had a way of attracting no-maj visitors often so I had to be very cautious. There are very strict laws about magic being performed in the vicinity of no-majs, and the MACUSA was known to be merciless on this law. I had read in the _Wizarding Times_ just last week that the numbers of arrests were going up, and almost all were immediately sent to prison without a hearing. Performing magic of any kind near a no-maj would earn you at least 5 years in the MACUSA prison at Woolworth in New York. Depending on the type of magic, some careless wizards found themselves facing the death penalty. Maybe it is a good thing I’m getting out of here now.

My father came up the steps, absolutely beaming with excitement. He was a fairly good looking man for his age- always attracting the attention of women wherever we went, yet he never seemed to move on from my mother. He was a relatively tall man, with dark hair that he would swear was only dark brown, but I had always perceived it to be black. His eyes were so blue that they seemed to glow in the dark.

He looked at the massive trunk and chuckled a bit. “What’s so funny?!” I asked, slightly peeved.

“Isn’t it obvious what you need to do?” he said as he chuckled more. I tilted my head slightly, definitely lost on the implication. He sighed, “Wow, you really do need to go university- I obviously haven’t taught you well enough!” With a flick of his wand (and his over-exaggerated slow, teaching voice) he said, “ _Pluma lux!_ ” The trunk now felt light as a feather, and I felt like a complete idiot. That was a basic charm he had taught me within my first year of study, so he may have a point in sending me off to school.

A warm smile spread across his face, but did I detect a hint of sadness as well? “Oh my baby, look at you! Well, you’re not a baby anymore of course but I- I just can’t believe you’re leaving. I should have sent you to Hogwarts from the start. I’m sorry I’m selfish and making you transfer now that your class is in third year, but you are a Goddard dammit and greatness is in your blood!” he roared, tears starting to well in his eyes. He quickly pulled me in for a hug, “Listen to me Geneviève, if you need anything I’m only a phone call- or quick second by apparition- away. I know you’re going to be having so much fun with your new friends and probably partying every weekend like I used to, but you’re always welcome to come visit. Even if it’s only for a quick meal together, or maybe you want to spend the weekend at dear old dad’s every once in a while.”

I cut him off, “Dad, I’ll be perfectly fine, but if I need anything I can be here in a flash- literally!”

He hugged me again tightly, only this time it felt full of worry, and not just parental worry, “Things are different there. More open, yes, but also a lot darker. Times are changing and you need to stay alert. You will have a week before you need to settle on a Concentration or a double Concentration, please take my advice and consider Defense Against the Dark Arts- I’d feel much better if you chose that one.”

Ugh, not this again, “Dad, why can’t I just choose Apparition as my Concentration and put everything else toward my sub-concentrations! It would be a piece of cake for me!” I said with a wink.

Father’s worry seemed to fade away and was replaced by annoyance, “Evie, you are an apparition prodigy. You have always been a natural with some of the greatest ability I’ve ever witnessed. Most of the students your age and even most of the seventh year students are not capable of what you are. Don’t take the easy way out; you don’t need to be in apparition at all. Challenge yourself, you are capable of a lot more than you give yourself credit for.” He was right of course, but nothing had ever clicked with me the way apparition had.

Suddenly a loud gasp escaped my father, “Bloody hell look at the time! You’re late! Alright now no time to go down the stairs we have to leave now!” I looked at my phone and sure enough it was already 2pm, which meant it was 7pm there, and my heart began to sink. I hadn’t been to a school since I was 11. I hadn’t had real life friends since I was 11. My heart began to race, my palms became sweaty, and my breath began to shorten. Two big hands gripped my shoulders and gave me a light shake, “Hey!” my father began, “You’re going to be just fine. They’re going to love you there- only once in a generation do they get an American transfer! You’ll be like a unicorn!” _Great_ , I thought, _I’m going to be the freak of the school_.

“So you’re coming with me?” I asked.

“Well” he teetered on his words, “Not exactly. Since you haven’t seen the place, I’m going to take you to Hogsmeade station, but I won’t be staying. Just a quick apparition in and out! Wouldn’t want to embarrass you in front of the other students, after all. They’ll be getting off the train when you arrive, so just follow where they go. Are you ready?” he asked. I took a deep breath, trying to calm the panic I was feeling. It wasn’t working so I just grabbed my extremely light trunk and nodded. Suddenly, I felt the tight squeeze of apparition, and fell over onto a dark platform.

“Oh! Uh, hullo there… Are yer new?”


	3. Strange from the Start

This must be the tallest man I’ve ever seen. Was he a man? Or was he a giant? I had only heard about giants from my father, so I wasn’t quite sure how tall was considered ‘giant.’ Despite him towering over me, I felt a sense of comfort wash over me.

“Yeah I am new, is it that obvious?” I asked.

He let out a deep laugh, “Well, most students don’t just pop in on the platform- in fact, I’ve never seen it in me life!” He had himself a good laugh then let out a content sigh as he extended his hand, “Rubeus Hagrid, gamekeeper and Professor of Magical Creatures here at Hogwarts! And you are?”

I took his hand, though I could merely hold only two of his fingers to attempt a proper handshake, “I’m Geneviève Goddard, but I go by Evie. I’m a third year transfer.”

Hagrid’s face went pale, “yer’ a Goddard? It couldn’t be…are you Darren Goddard’s daughter?”

I could feel my breath starting to shorten again already, “Uh, yeah that’s my father. Do you know him?” Hagrid didn’t say anything; he just walked over to the line of carriages. A bizarre looking man with a moldy brown coat and greasy hair stood by them, and Hagrid leaned down to whisper something to him. The weird man looked towards me with wide eyes. I’ve been here all of two minutes and I’m already freaking people out, fantastic.

Hagrid waved me over, so I grabbed my trunk and walked that way. “Geneviève- I mean, er, Evie, this here is Argus Filch the Hogwarts caretaker. He’s goin’ to go with yer to the castle and take yer to see Professor Dumbledore. He’ll get you sorted out.” Hagrid said through a clearly fake smile, though he seemed worried. This Filch guy did not seem like the kind of guy I wanted to be riding in a carriage with, his eyes on me sent chills down my spine.

“Um Hagrid?” I began, “Where are the other students? My father told me I should follow them from the platform.”

His eyes darted around nervously, “Oh right, erm, well the train seems to be running late, and with you being a transfer and all it’s best we get yer to Dumbledore right away.” Five minutes in and I’ve already been sent to the Headmaster’s office.

The carriage ride was awkward and silent, yet Filch never took his eyes off me. It was like he was staring through me, looking for any bit of evil. Finally, the castle came into view and it was absolutely breathtaking. Father told me it was incredible but this was like walking into a fairytale. I was almost inclined to take a picture of it, but with Filch still staring at me I didn’t dare reach into my pocket for my phone. The carriage came to a halt and Filch hopped out with my trunk in hand, and as soon as I stepped out the carriage pulled itself away as if an invisible horse was pulling it. I followed Filch up what seemed to be endless amounts of stairs. _I am NEVER going to need to work out with this many stairs to climb_ I thought to myself through labored breaths.

Finally, Filch said something to this massive gargoyle, and then led me up one more set of stone steps that spiraled to the top. This must be the Headmaster’s office- the office of what my father says is the greatest wizard of our time, Albus Dumbledore. I quickly smoothed my skirt and tugged at my robes- the sweat already starting to coat my palms. _What would he be like?_ I wondered to myself. _Is he actually as nice as father says he is, or was that all a lie to calm my nerves?_

“Ah, Mr. Filch, I see you’ve met our new transfer student. I trust you’ve given her your warmest welcome to our school?” A very old looking man sat behind a desk in what could hardly be considered an office. The room was massive and full of peculiar objects I couldn’t make sense of, not to mention there must have been over a hundred photos that were all MOVING. My jaw was still agape when I heard the old man chuckle a bit, “Thank you Mr. Filch, if you would be so kind and take Miss Goddard’s trunk up to her dorm room it would be most appreciated.” A bit of a grumble came from Filch as he turned away with my trunk; I swear I could her him muttering to himself too.

Catching my gaze, Dumbledore spoke calmly, “No need to worry about him, Geneviève. He’s a bit on the pessimistic side, but he is a wonderful caretaker who has been absolutely devoted to our school. Tell me, did you have a nice trip on the Hogwarts Express?”

“Well actually, Dumbledore- Headmaster- Sir, my father helped me apparate to Hogsmeade station so I didn’t actually ride the, um, Hogwarts Express? Is that the train? Hagrid said it was running late actually, and that it would be better for me to see you as soon as possible.” I rushed through my words, stammering really, trying to remember what Hagrid had said.

There was a look of surprise on his face, “You apparated onto the platform? And you’re only going into your third year? Curious, please tell me how you’ve mastered such a difficult form of magic at your young age?”

Difficult form of magic? My father had mentioned that most people my age couldn’t do it, but I figured by the time everyone left school they would master it as I have. “I’m sorry Sir, I’m a bit confused, is apparition not common here?”

“Well, of course we offer it as a Concentration for those who wish to try and utilize the skill, however it is not for the faint of heart. Horrible things can happen to those who do not master it, and only very few are confident in apparating such long distances as yourself. I will be very interested to hear about how you acquired such skills, however that can wait for a later date when you have settled in here. Now, I want to assure you that despite all the rumors circulating, that we have everything under control and you are absolutely safe here at Hogwarts.” He said this in a very matter of fact manner, which I’m sure would have been calming if I had any idea what was going on.

“Forgive me sir but, rumors? You have what under control?” I felt so stupid not knowing what he was referring to.

“Surely you’ve heard about the escape of Sirius Black from Azkaban? One of the most notorious mass murders in nearly a century? I’m sure it must be very troubling for your father.”

My father? Why would a mass murderer locked up in, what did he call it? _Azkaban_? Why would a murderer over here be troubling for my father? “I’m sorry Sir, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Why would this murderer- Sirius Black was it? Why would he be troubling to my father?”

He looked as though he were about to speak, but stopped himself before the words came out. “Curious. Yes, well, I just thought it best you know that you are safe here, as are all our students. Black used to be a student at Hogwarts so there is some concern he would show up here again. The ministry has provided full protection for our school, as will be explained later. Now, let’s get you down to the Great Hall as I’m sure the students should be arriving by now. Oh, and Ms. Goddard? Should you ever need help, or have any questions, please do not hesitate to stop by.” He finished with a wink.

Well, he does seem just as nice as father described him, however I just couldn’t shake this eerie feeling. Who is Sirius Black and how is he connected to my father?


	4. Sorting

I followed behind Professor Dumbledore as we descended down the endless stairs. We neared the main floor and I could hear a roar of voices grow louder. As we walked into a large hall, I could see a group of students looking equally as confused as I was.

“Ah, Professor McGonagall, excellent you have our first years ready! I have one more for you here, our newest and only transfer this year; going into her third year- this is Miss Goddard. I trust you will get her sorted just like our first years?” Dumbledore asked. The first years stared at Dumbledore with wonder in their eyes, as if they were in the presence of a celebrity.

Professor McGonagall was a tall, slender, woman who wore the most beautiful emerald green robes. She had a rather narrow face, and she looked somewhat flustered at the moment, as she must have just had to gather the confused first years together. What did Dumbledore mean by sorted?

Professor McGonagall now spoke, “Yes of course Professor Dumbledore, welcome to Hogwarts Miss- what did you say your name was?”

“Uh- its Geneviève Goddard but I prefer Evie, Professor Mcgona- Ma’am.” _Shit, I messed up her name in front of the first years and now they won’t stop laughing at me_. Professor McGona- McGonagall? Professor McGonagall didn’t seem to notice the laughter however, as a similar look that had come across Hagrid’s face when he heard my name now rested on hers.

She shook her head and straightened her posture, “Yes, well, get at the back of the group here and just wait for us to call your name so we can sort you into your proper house. Ready students? Right, follow me”

With a slight whisk of her robe, she walked quickly into the room in which the roar of voices had grown almost deafening. I followed at the back of the group of first years and struggled to keep up while trying to take in the grandeur of this room. Four long tables of beautiful polished wood stretched the entire main floor while thousands of candles floated overhead. The ceiling looked like it contained the stars; I swear I saw a shooting star! A large table sat at the very front with, what I assumed were, all the professors of the University.

The deafening roar of voices had become quiet when Professor McGonagall entered the room, now only whispers could be heard as all eyes followed their group. At the end of the long tables, there was a stool with a very strange looking hat on it. “Now when I call your name, you will sit on this stool and will be sorted into your houses. Lucinda Anderson!”

Oh right, my father had mentioned that there were houses here, but I didn’t realize it was this big of a deal. What had he said he was in? I should really pay more attention when he’s talking, but god- he just lectures endlessly! How is this eccentric and clearly ancient hat going to aid in this sorting?

This nervous looking first year was almost shaking as she approached the stool. Frankly, I was beginning to shake as well, the eyes of the entire University watching like that, it’s terrifying! I began to hyperventilate slightly and was cursing myself trying to keep it together: _Fuck, fuck, FUCK calm the FUCK down. You’re 20 years old for Merlin’s sake just KEEP IT TOGTHER! WHY does every minor inconvenience cause me to spiral into panic?!?!_ My own thoughts were truly my worst enemy.

“HUFFLEPUFF!” came a voice. Where did that come from? The table directly to my right erupted into a deafening cheer. I guess these houses really are a big deal; these people were ecstatic about their new member. Is this the equivalent of sororities and fraternities in the States? I hope not- I’ve heard those no-maj organizations are toxic. I watched intently as the next first year sat down. A scrawny boy with messy ash colored hair that looked like it had never been combed was shaking so hard the stool was quivering with him. “RAVENCLAW!” came the voice again. I rubbed my eyes because I couldn’t believe what I was seeing; did the hat just talk?

Through every student that hat called out “SLYTHERIN! HUFFLEPUFF! GRYFFINDOR! RAVENCLAW!” and I still couldn’t believe that a talking hat was the one deciding. I had become so lost in how peculiar this was that it made me jump when I heard “Geneviève Goddard!” The hall had become increasingly nosier the closer we had gotten to the end, however with my name being called the entire room went silent. I could feel every pair of eyes following me intently as I walked to the stool, praying I wouldn’t trip over my robe in the process.

I slowly settled myself on the stool and Professor McGonagall placed the hat upon my head. Strangely enough, it’s almost as though the hat felt _alive_. It wasn’t necessarily breathing, but it had a certain presence to it that felt like a living creature was on my head. There seemed to be a longer pause than there had been with the others when it came to me, but then again that could just be the anxiety talking. I held my breath and felt my heartbeat slow; finally the voice rang out,

“GRYFFINDOR!”


	5. A New House

Immense cheers erupted from the table all the way to the left and everyone was on their feet. I don’t want to brag, but it seemed I got the loudest cheers of the entire sorting ceremony. That could also be because I was the very last one and people were excited that it was over, but it still made me turn the brightest shade of red.

I hopped off the stool and made my way over to the table. Now came the most terrifying thing I had yet faced: where was I supposed to sit? Surprisingly, numerous groups of people were scooting over and patting the seat next to them, but one group in particular caught my eye. A bunch of redheaded boys were waving at me, and a boy with glasses and a girl with large curly brown hair were motioning me towards them. I took what felt like a leap of faith and sat in between one of the taller redheads and the boy with glasses.

Right as I sat down one of the other redheads reached down across the table to greet me, and my eyes were immediately drawn to the shiny badge on his robe, “Welcome to Gryffindor, Geneviève! My name is Percy Weasley, the Head Boy for Gryffindor. Dumbledore, of course, has made me aware of your situation so if you need anything at all, I’m here to help! Now first of all, let’s talk about some basic rule- OW!”

Just then the tall redhead on my right had reached up and flicked Percy in the forehead, “Give it a rest Perce, the poor girl just got here. She doesn’t need your stupid rules right now!”

“Rules aren’t stupid George! They are a NECESSITY for order and I will not have you corrupting-“ but just in the middle of Percy’s rant, Dumbledore began to speak,

“Good evening students, and welcome back to Hogwarts. I trust everyone had a fun, relaxing, and safe holiday. Now before we begin our feast, there are a few matters I need to address. First and foremost, I would like to welcome our newest transfer all the way from the United States. Joining the third year class, and now the house of Gryffindor, please help me welcome Geneviève Goddard.” He motioned to me to stand and began to clap. I could feel my face turning even redder than before, which I didn’t know was physically possible. People were clapping, but there was an undeniable roar of whispers that swept across the room- even among the faculty table. _Great,_ I thought, _it must be cause I’m an American huh? Father had warned me I’d be ‘like a unicorn.’_

As the claps and whispers died down, Dumbledore continued, “Secondly, I want to assure all our students that in light of the escape of Sirius Black, extra precautions have been taken to secure the grounds. The Ministry of Magic feels it is best that we host the dementors of Azkaban for the time being until the eventual capture of Black. I urge all students to exercise caution and ask that you do not interact with them. The Ministry has assured me they will be of no threat to students; however do not give them a reason to notice you. Lastly, I will remind all students, but especially a certain few, that the forest at the edge of the grounds is out of bounds.” When Dumbledore said this, he seemed to say it directly towards the group I was now sitting with.

“Now, with all the formalities accounted for, let the feast begin!” Right as he said it, the table filled with the most delicious looking food. Roast chicken, roast turkey, roast beef, lamb chops, pork chops, and steaks for the meats. It seemed they had every variation of potatoes: roast, boiled, jacket, and mashed! There were vegetables or every kind that had been steamed or sautéed. The golden chalices in front of the golden plates had filled themselves with what looked to be like orange juice? I took a sip, _that was NOT orange juice, but it wasn’t bad at all… pumpkin juice? How interesting_. I watched all the students pile their golden plates full of food with excited chatter now filling the hall.

As I began to fill my own plate, the tall redhead to the right of me leaned over, “I’m George by the way, and that’s my older brother Percy- you know the obnoxious rule enforcer” he said.

“I’m HEAD BOY! It’s my JOB to enforce the rules!” Percy now yelled in George’s direction.

The tall redhead sitting across from George now piped in, “Yeah well your dumbass rules still haven’t stopped us, twins one million – Percy 0”

Now that I was actually paying attention I saw that they were _identical_ twins. I looked back and forth between the two rapidly trying to find small identifying differences- I definitely did not want to be calling one by the other’s name. The other twin now laughed noticing my stares, “I’m Fred, and I wish you luck trying to tell us apart. Our own mother gets it wrong!” he cackled at this.

The other somewhat smaller redheaded boy sitting across from me extended his hand, “Ron Weasley” he said with his mouth full of food, “these are my brothers, down there is my sister Ginny, and these are my best friends” he said while motioning to the curly headed girl on his right and the boy with glasses on my left.

“Hermione Granger, the pleasure really is all mine Geneviève,” the curly headed girl said, now extending her hand across the table as well and shaking mine rather enthusiastically. “And he hardly needs any introduction but that’s-“ the boy with glasses interrupted her and shook my hand, “Harry Potter, nice to meet you Geneviève.”

“Nice to meet you too Harry, I actually prefer to go by Evie” I said as I got back to eating another bite of this incredible moist chicken. Harry was now smiling at me real big while the rest of their eyes had gone wide. “Wow, that must feel nice Harry. How’s it feel to have a normal greeting for once?” Fred joked as he grabbed some more potatoes. _Crap am I supposed to know who he is?_

“Oh, I’m sorry Harry, forgive me I’m new so I don’t know anyone yet. Are you a big quidditch player or something? I’ve heard quidditch is the popular game here, though I’ve never actually seen it as I’ve only seen a few games of quodpot.” I said hoping to cover my embarrassment.

All of them chuckled a bit, George looked at me, “are you telling me you don’t know about the boy who lived? Wow Harry, welcome to what life’s like for the rest of us!” _The boy who lived?_

Ron held up his finger and finished chewing his food, “Not surprising the story isn’t big in the States. Geneviève- Evie, how did you escape He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named? Your story is one everyone has been curious about for years!” Hermione now hit him in the arm, “OW! What? We are curious! This has been the biggest mystery next to Harry’s for over a decade!”

My voice cracked as I tried to speak, “I’m sorry, um, who is He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?”


	6. The Weight of the Unknown

It had gotten much quieter when I said this, and it wasn’t just within my group. I looked down the table, to my right and left, and found multiple people staring at me with wide eyes. I turned over my shoulder and saw multiple of the students in yellow robes ( _what had they called them again?? Huff- huffle- hufflepoofs? That can’t be right)_ were staring at me with those same eyes, and the whispers started again.

“Evie..” Harry tapped my shoulder, “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is… Voldemort.”

George and Fred had a visible shudder go through them, and Ron looked horrified, “Don’t say his name Harry!”

Hermione rolled her eyes and hit him in the arm once more, “How else would she know who he is if she didn’t know him as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named? In the books I’ve read, it seems the Americans have less of an aversion to his name! She might not know him as anything else!”

I just stared blankly back at them trying to process all these reactions. I really didn’t want to offend anyone with my ignorance, “I’m really sorry, I have no idea who you’re talking about.” At this, all their faces dropped back to their plates of food and suddenly there was a tangible tension.

“How… how could you not know? After all the work your parents did… and- you know- what happened with your mother… OW GUYS STOP IT!” Hermione had, once again, hit Ron in the arm except this time she was joined by Fred, “Shut it you prat! Evie is obviously uncomfortable and this is a personal matter!”

I stared down at my plate, which was still full of food, but my appetite had completely evaporated and was replaced with the all too common knot of anxiety. _The work my parents did? What happened to my mother? How was this Volde- He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named got anything to do with my mother?_ The questions swirled around in my head until it was too much to handle.

I stood up quickly and wanted to run, but I didn’t want to be rude to the first people who had welcomed me here, “Thank you so much for inviting me to sit with you, I think I’m going to go try and unpack my room now.”

I began to turn towards the door when Ron called out, “Evie, don’t go! You’ll miss the desserts- and that’s the best part!” I just couldn’t be in that room with all that noise anymore, and the bombardment of questions in my head. It was all beginning to overwhelm me and I could feel a massive panic attack coming. Before I knew what I was doing, I was running down the long row of tables and out the massive door.

I ran straight ahead and down the stairs. Even though I had no idea where I was going, I just let my feet carry me until I couldn’t run anymore. I found myself outside in a courtyard, now faced with the real moon and stars. I took a deep breath, and it was at this moment I could no longer hold back. All the anxiety, the questions, the fear; it all came bubbling to the surface and I sank to my knees, letting out sobs that made no noise at all.

It had only been about an hour and a half since I first arrived and I’m already completely breaking down. These questions still swirled around in my head: _Who is Voldemort? Why do they call him ‘He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named’? Why did Ron know of my parents? What work did my parents do? Why do I have a mysterious story that he thinks he knows? **What does this have to do with my mother?**_

I couldn’t stop; the more questions that came more tears came with them. Suddenly, I heard footsteps behind me. “Hey” came a deep voice, “I’m sorry if my brother upset you, he doesn’t know what privacy is clearly.” I turned my head slightly to see that one of the twins had come to check on me. I looked up to study his face closely, trying to remember which was which.

He came and sat next to me, “It’s okay, and I don’t expect you to be able to tell us apart. Especially not after only knowing us for probably 15 minutes before Ron fucked it up.”

Looking at his face more closely now though, I could tell instantly, “No, I can tell. You’re George. Your face looks entirely different from your brother’s honestly.”

He was clearly shocked and then let out a laugh, “If you can tell that after just 15 minutes, I’m going to need to ask my mum why she can’t after 22 years.” I couldn’t hold it back either, I let out a big laugh that slowly dissolved into some more tears. George’s face soften as he rubbed my back gently, “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, but I hope one day we become close enough friends that you feel comfortable to.”

I took a deep breath, not really wanting to let my guard down, but also not feeling like I had many other places to turn, “I’m honestly just confused. I have no idea who this Volde- I’m sorry, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, is, and I certainly have no idea what he’s got to do with my parents.”

George shifted a bit, visibly uncomfortable by hearing this, “I- I don’t want to say anything because I feel like I’m the wrong person to have this conversation, but I think you should go talk to Dumbledore about this.” He was probably right, but to have to go to the Headmaster’s office TWICE in one night? How embarrassing.

George got up and extended his hand out to me to help me off the ground, “C’mon then, I’ll take you up there so you don’t have to walk alone. Besides, a lot of students still get lost even after being here for seven years, so I can’t imagine you’d know where to go.” Once again, he was definitely right.

I followed the tall redhead back into the castle and up the stairs, back into the massive hall I had first come into, and over to the large staircase. I had noticed it only briefly on my climb up, but now it was clear that these stairs were _moving._ “Oh yeah, they do that a lot. Never trust these stairs, and always look out for trick steps- there’s quite a few of them” George said this as if it were just normal, but that seemed to me like a huge liability to have in a school.

Together we made the climb up the ungodly amount of stairs and once again reached the gargoyle that seemed as if he were on guard. “Sherbet Lemon” George said with a grin, “I’m technically not supposed to know that, but Fred and I have a way of finding things we aren’t supposed to.”

The spiral stairs appeared once again and I walked forward to make my way up, however this time George did not follow, “Aren’t you coming?”

He shook his head, “No, like I said, this is a conversation I think only Dumbledore can help you with. I’ll see you later Evie, go on then.” With that, the gargoyle turned, and I made the climb alone.

“Ah, Miss Goddard, I had figured you might pay me a visit again. I couldn’t help but notice you left during dinner. Are you alright?”

Dumbledore was already sitting at his desk, though I’m sure the feast was not over yet. I suddenly felt even more embarrassed, knowing he had left because of me, “Headmaster I’m so sorry, it’s really nothing I shouldn’t have bothered and made you worry.”

I took a turn to leave when he calmly replied, “It’s about your parents isn’t it?”

This made me pause and turn back to face him, “How- how did you know?”

He seemed to smile slightly as he got up from his desk and slowly walked towards me, “I had a feeling, based on your reaction to my mention of Sirius Black earlier, that there may be some things you are unaware of in regards to your father’s history and your parents’ work.” There it was again, _my parents’ work,_ what did they mean by this?

“Professor I’m so confused. I have no idea what this work is that my parents’ supposedly did. Apparently there’s some story about me escaping someone I’ve never heard of- Voldemort? And apparently this Volde- I mean, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, has something to do with my mother? I feel like I’ve stepped into a whole other world where everyone else knows my life except me!” I had gotten so frantic recounting my anxieties that I had ended up shouting at him, “Forgive me sir, I didn’t mean to yell.”

He sighed, “it’s quite alright Geneviève. I can’t imagine how overwhelming this must all be on top of you being in an entirely foreign land. I believe it would be best to talk to your father about these questions you have.”

This only made me burst into tears once again, “It is overwhelming, and I want nothing more to talk to him, but I can’t just have this conversation over the phone! And I can’t just apparate home after only being here two hours, but these questions are killing me already! And I just- I- I-“ it was useless, I couldn’t stop my sobs. Suddenly I felt arms wrap around me, a familiar embrace,

“Oh honey, I’m so sorry I’ve caused you all this unnecessary pain.”


	7. The Truth Comes Out

I couldn’t believe my eyes- my father, who I had just said goodbye to only an hour ago, now stood in front of me again, “How did you…”

“Dumbledore called me during the sorting ceremony. He said he was concerned what may happen when you met the other students and if they started asking questions you didn’t know the answer to.” He flashed Dumbledore an appreciative smile.

“Forgive me, Miss Goddard, your cellular had fallen out of your robe when you were in my office earlier. Curious things, these cellulars, I haven’t the foggiest notion how they work. Luckily for me, your phone unlocked when I tapped it and the last thing on the screen was messages with your father.” I guess I hadn’t really thought about it, but wizards over here probably don’t use cell phones all that much considering there are much cooler ways to communicate. Dumbledore now strolled to the spiral staircase, “Now if you excuse me, I believe I am going to go enjoy some pudding.” With that, he had disappeared down the stairs again.

I turned back to my father, and for the first time in my life, I believe I saw anxiety in his eyes. _I thought that only happened to me._ Father led me over to a bench and sat next to me, “I don’t really know how to start this off. Would you like to ask me some questions?”

Suddenly, I became filled with rage and got up from the bench, “Would I like to ask you some questions? Why don’t you tell me what this work is you and mom used to do? Or who the hell Voldemort is and what he has to do with mother? Or how the fuck everyone here knew who I was and said I have a story almost as famous as some ‘boy who lived’ or whatever? You said I’d be like a unicorn cause I’m American, Dad, you didn’t mention a damn thing about these people already knowing who I am!” The tears on my face had evaporated and been replaced by burning anger.

“You have every right to be mad,” he started while approaching me, “just please, sit down and let me explain.” I didn’t want to listen to anything he had to say at this moment, but I had no other choice if I wanted these questions to stop bouncing around my head like a pinball firing back and forth between bumpers. I sat down and crossed my arms, feeling quite like a child who had just thrown a fit, yet I looked up at him ready to listen.

He took a deep breath, “First, I’ll do my best to explain He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. We don’t ever say his name, for that gives him power. He started off as an orphaned wizard boy named Tom Riddle. Dumbledore brought him here to Hogwarts for instruction, as he was quite talented, however he fancied the Dark Arts. Through the years of his studies, he became more fascinated with dark magic, and pledged himself to a life of dark wizardry. He held a deep hatred for muggles and wizard children who were born from them. He felt their blood was impure, ‘mudbloods’ they call them, and therefore these people were lesser.”

“He was not alone in this belief- many pure blood wizards felt they were entitled to better treatment in life simply because they were fortunate enough to be born to pure blooded families. Blood supremacy has been a constant issue among wizards dating back to the very beginning. His impressive skill in dark magic, along with his abhorrent beliefs, attracted more and more followers who felt emboldened to be open about their prejudice.”

“As his dark army continued to grow, I had just begun work for the Ministry of Magic. I became an auror right after I graduated from Hogwarts. They needed as many as they could get in those days- more and more people went missing every single day. My first task as an auror was to find Evan Rosier, a suspected loyal follower of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named known as a Death Eater, and bring him in for questioning and a trial.”

“I tracked down Rosier across the UK numerous times, but either fear or fate kept me from intervening all those times. He was always with others that I assumed were fellow Death Eaters, and I knew I would likely be among the missing and dead aurors if I accosted him at those times- so I waited.”

“Eventually, in the most obscure manner, I found him approaching the edge of some cliffs in the countryside one day and speaking to a man. This man had tried to get him to pay, but instead Rosier pulled out his wand and used the Cruciatus curse. The man fell to the ground, screaming and writhing about, and then as Rosier put his wand away the man got up and apologized profusely. The next second, Rosier was gone. I ran forward towards the man, who this time cowered in fear, obviously fearing I was another Death Eater. I quickly explained I was an auror, paid him double, and took a portkey to where Rosier had gone.”

“I was stunned to find that the portkey took me to the United States, though I wasn’t quite sure where I was. I was able to find Rosier, and decided to follow him to figure out what he was doing. I followed him into a city that was covered with snow, what I would later find out was New York, and saw him slip into a warehouse building. Not long after, I went into the warehouse and I couldn’t believe what I saw.”

“At least a hundred wizards and witches, probably more, were inside that warehouse practicing spells. They weren’t just any spells though; they were practicing the Unforgivable curses. They were doing the Cruciatus curse on a small part of the group- their screams were still deafening. The other majority looked to be doing the Imperius curse on each other, and were having fun making each other do the craziest things. Suddenly Rosier screamed at the group, ‘you’re all WEAK! FIGHT BACK! You won’t last a second fighting for the Dark Lord if you don’t fight the Imperius curse. What are you going to do if the Ministry uses it on you and orders you to spill all our secrets? What will you do then you pathetic scum? _CRUCIO!’_ and one of the largest men in the room fell to the ground and writhed in pain. Rosier kept it going for at least 5 minutes.”

“After Rosier finished his display he turned to the rest of the group, ‘Now, it’s time to practice the most important one you’ll need. KARKAROFF! Bring them in!’ I knew that name, Igor Karkaroff, another suspected Death Eater. One of my friends from Hogwarts who was also an auror had been tasked with finding him when he suddenly went missing. Karkaroff entered the room with a line of people in chains behind him- they all had bags over their heads. Karkaroff unchained the first person and took the bag off her head. It was a woman who couldn’t have been more than 22- she was only 3 years younger than I was.”

“I’ll never forget the look on that woman’s face. It was of pure fear and confusion. She begged, ‘Please! I don’t know who you are or what you want, but my family has money. They will pay you whatever you want just please let me go!’ Rosier shook his head and turned to the large man he had just tortured, ‘Do it. Now.’ The man looked horrified, but he slowly raised his wand. The girl began to scream, ‘what’s that? What are you going to do to me?! Please I’ll give you anything, please!’ It was then I realized that this girl was a muggle. All the people chained in that line were muggles.”

“The large man stared at the girl’s pleading face, and his wand began to shake. Rosier rolled his eyes, ‘DO IT! NOW!’ The man, however, only began to shake more. ‘Bloody hell is everyone fucking useless around here?! _Avada Kedavra_!’ The muggle girl fell to the ground in that same instant- a single tear trickling from her eye. Rosier turned to the man, ‘you’re pathetic. An absolute waste of a wizard. _Avada Kedavra!’_ Now the large man had fallen over too. The remaining group kept their heads down, praying not to be next.”

“I had seen enough, I was about to act. As I drew my wand, ready to stun both Rosier and Karkaroff, suddenly I felt the tight squeeze of apparition. I looked around, and suddenly found myself in a grey room, chained to a desk, with my wand only a few inches in front of me. The door opened, and in walked the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen- your mother. She said to me, ‘Good evening, Mr. Goddard. I’m Anastasia Hale, and I welcome you to the United States. Now, would you please tell me why you’ve entered my country without authorization and why you were about to use magic in front of no-majs?”

“I was shocked, how could she have known all that, yet I was the one in chains? As if she read my mind, ‘Mr. Goddard, did you know that we in the States have a list of every person who works for every nations’ magical government and have alarms that sound whenever one enters without authorization?’ I, obviously, did not know this, so I came clean and told her why I was there. At first she laughed at me, and said she was insulted by the notion that a branch of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named’s army could possibly be in the States. After lots of pleading, however, she unchained me and gathered a team of the MACUSA aurors.”

“Together, we went back to the warehouse where we found Rosier and Karkaroff still training the group, yet it had seemed their numbers had dwindled considerably. Sure enough, as we looked around, there were bodies all throughout the room. Your mother looked at me with the same look of horror I had worn on my face when I first witnessed this earlier, but finally she saw my story was true. We drew our wands, and as a team we were able to stun most the group. Rosier, however, blocked our attempt and fought back. He killed two of the MACUSA aurors before I had enough and killed him myself. I was supposed to bring him back for questioning and trial, but we had been authorized to kill if absolutely necessary. He is the one and only person I’ve ever killed, and it still haunts me every day”

“Your mother returned with me to the UK to send Karkaroff to Azkaban, and by that time we had both come up with a plan. Nobody would have guessed that You-Know-Who was using the States to recruit and train people, so we knew someone had to be looking for it now. You mother and I left our positions with the Ministry and the MACUSA to start our own business, one that focused exclusively on suspected dark wizardry that was happening across international lines.”

“There’s a lot of red tape and not a lot of trust between different foreign magical governments, however by opening our own intelligence office of sorts that had no clear loyalty to any of these governments, we were able to track down criminals that had been on the run for years. No one had thought to look outside their own countries, so we made it easier for them all.”

“A few years after starting our business, after we had been married, and had you- You-Know-Who had begun to get desperate. His followers were being captured, and a new prophecy had suggested that he would meet his downfall. Out for vengeance, he came looking for your mother and I. Only my five closest friends in the UK knew where we lived, and one of them betrayed me and gave that information to You-Know-Who.”

“I happened to be out on business on a lead your mother and I had gotten on Bellatrix Lestrange- one of You-Know-Who’s most prominent Death Eater’s. While I was away, You-Know-Who came to our house while your mother and you were playing hide and seek. I had told you it was a seizure that killed her because that seemed far less frightening than the truth, and for that I’m sorry.”

“Your mother fought hard against him, as was evident in the remnants of my office, but he was stronger. Your mother died heroically, and if you hadn’t of been hiding in the attic on that particular day, I know for certain he would have killed you as well. I knew he would be coming back for both you and I, so that’s why I kept moving us. A year later, when both you and Harry Potter were only seven years old, You-Know-Who murdered Harry’s parents, and my best friends- James and Lily Potter. He had been trying to murder Harry, but for some reason he could not and the killing curse instead rebounded onto him. It tore me apart- you and Harry were like cousins, not that I expect you to remember, and after that he was sent to live with his horrible aunt and uncle. I was no longer permitted to see him.”

“Even worse, since I believed one of my five best friends had betrayed us, I spent so much of the next year hiding you and I that I didn’t get to talk to James and Lily as I feared they could have been the spies. I will always have to live with that regret- that my last feelings towards them were clouded by fear and hatred. After they were killed, there were only 3 left that it could have been, and not long after we found out it was Sirius Black who had betrayed us and fed information to the Dark Lord.”

“That’s why Dumbledore mentioned Black to you, and wanted to assure your safety. There is fear that he could show up here and try to kill you and Harry on behalf of You-Know-Who since you’re the one who escaped and Harry the boy who lived. There are many rumors that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is still out there, and if Black returns to him, that He could gain power once again. These are just rumors but these are the things that keep me up at night, and this is the reason I sent you here. There is no safer place to be than Hogwarts, and Dumbledore is the greatest sorcerer of our time- he will protect you.”

Letting out a massive exhale, my father sat back and put his head in his hands. Reliving these memories had obviously taken a toll on him. It dawned on me then that the sadness I often felt in him was so much more than the loss of my mother- he had lost his best friends because someone he thought was a close friend betrayed him. My anger had melted away, and with a loss of words, I just threw my arms around my father and gave him a long hug. Finally, I mustered up the strength to say, “I’m sorry I was mad at you- I can’t imagine what that must have been like. I love you, and I’m so sorry.”

Suddenly, my father began to cry in my arms, “No I’m the one to be sorry. I should have told you the truth so long ago- you had every right to know! It’s just that reality is so much more frightening than the story I had created. And honestly, if I didn’t feel it were necessary to send you to Hogwarts because of these dark rumors, I might not have ever told you. Please, I hope you can find a way to forgive me.”

The last time I had seen my father cry was when I was six and he had found me next to my mother on his office floor. I always felt like he was holding in his emotions, but now I knew why. I just kept my arms around him and let him cry, and soon I was crying as well. This felt like a much needed release for both of us. I had been so angry and confused, but now it had been replaced with compassion and empathy. It was going to take a lot of time to process this new information, yet having this heavy truth felt so much more comforting than the long winded lie.

“I love you dad, thank you.” With that, the tears stopped, and a smile spread across his face. “You are my sunshine, always” he said in return.

Seeming a bit more composed, with a smile resting on his face, he asked, “So, what house did the Sorting Hat place you in? I’ve been so anxious to know ever since I got Dumbledore’s call, but he wouldn’t tell me!”

I laughed a little, “Well the hat freaked me out, but I got sorted in Gryffindor.”

He was now beaming from ear to ear, “THAT’S MY GIRL! Just like your father!!” I guess I had expected that being his legacy I would end up in his former house, but then again I never seemed to listen to his stories about his time here either. “Is the fat lady still guarding Gryffindor tower?” he asked now.

“Uh well I kind of didn’t even make it through the feast so I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

He laughed kind of awkwardly, “I’m sorry you had to miss out on the feast, but there are a few others throughout the year. Come on, I’ll show you the way to the tower. It’ll be great to walk these halls again!”

Honestly, I felt embarrassed about my father walking his 20-year-old university student to her dorm, but I also wasn’t going to deprive him of this joy after the conversation we had just had. We descended down the spiral staircase and walked out passed the gargoyle when I saw that red haired boy sitting on the ground.

“Oh, hey Evie! I snuck you up an apple pie from the feast! I felt bad that you had to miss out on the best part so I- Oh!” George had now realized I was not alone, and my face began to get redder than George’s hair.

I looked at my father’s face, and a wicked grin had spread across it, “Evie, you’ve already made a friend I see! And who might you be?”

George began to fumble with the apple pie, trying not to drop it but also trying to shake my father’s hand, “Erm, George- George Weasley sir! Fifth year Gryffindor, sir. I do apologize I didn’t mean to interrupt.” I had to hold in a laugh because looking at George now, _his_ face was even redder than his hair!

“Nonsense! You didn’t interrupt! I was going to take Evie over to Gryffindor tower so she wouldn’t get lost, but I see she’s in good hands.” Father looked at me and winked. _Oh dear god- make it stop!_ Father laughed at my obvious awkward demeanor and sighed, “Alright then, I better be heading back anyways. Evie, call if you need anything. Love you! Oh, and George, tell your father Darren Goddard says hello.” and with one last wink, we heard a loud crack and he had vanished.

George’s eyes widened and looked at the spot that my father had stood, “Did he just apparate? Surely not back to the States?”

I giggled a little, feeling the redness starting to fade from my face, “Of course he did. That’s how I got here earlier too!”

His eyes went even wider, “you can apparate already?! But you’re only a third year! And that distance?! That’s bloody incredible, you must be a prodigy or something- that’s wicked! Geneviève Goddard, you are officially the coolest girl I’ve ever met” And suddenly, the redness had come flooding back to my face.


	8. The Common Room

The entire walk to Gryffindor tower was spent with George asking me questions about all the different places I’ve apparated and me trying to answer them between bites of apple pie. I truly didn’t realize it wasn’t as common to just apparate long distances as father and I often did when we wanted to travel. I mean it’s definitely much cheaper than flying via airplane, but George didn’t really understand that concept much either; however he did say his father has always wondered how airplanes could fly.

“I honestly couldn’t explain it,” I told him, “I don’t think scientists really understand it either.” We were so immersed in our conversation; I didn’t even notice that George had stopped in front of a portrait of a rather large woman. _Ah, the fat lady, this makes sense now._

“You’re getting in rather late as usual Weasley, and who’s this?” She asked him. _THE PAINTINGS TALK???_

“This is Evie Goddard, she’s the new transfer and she’s a Gryffindor now!”

The Fat Lady let out a gasp, “A Goddard? Are you related to Darren Goddard?” _How does EVERYONE know of my father?_

“Oh yeah, that’s my father. He was just here actually, do you know him?”

Apparently this had offended her, “Know him? OF COURSE I KNOW HIM! YOUR FATHER NEVER RESPECTED MY PRECIOUS BEAUTY SLEEP! Always sneaking out of the tower after curfew with his little gang- I thought those boys would surely be the death of me! That was, of course, until I met Mr. Weasley here and his twin.”

George let out a laugh, “Oh come off it, you LOVE Fred and I. You can’t lie to me!”

He shot her a wink, which she brushed off with a very dramatic eye roll, “Don’t you be getting this poor girl into trouble on her first night Weasley! And you, Miss Goddard, would be wise to stay away from the likes of this troublemaker and his brother.”

George scoffed, “Yeah yeah shut it ya old hag, Fortuna Major.” With a big “Hmpf!” the portrait swung open and revealed a tunnel of sorts.

“After you, m’lady” George said with a dramatic sweeping gesture and bow. I walked through and turned back toward him as the portrait swung shut, “So you’re a troublemaker huh? Guess I need to steer clear of you then” I joked with a wink. “Some people call it trouble, I call it fun. I think you would be wise to stick around and decide for yourself.”

He lead the way into what looked like a giant living room. It had tables to study, plenty of chairs and sofas to sit in, a warm roaring fire, and students were scattered about immersed in conversation and games. “Welcome to the Gryffindor common room! We spend a lot of time here hanging out with friends. Some people like to study but that’s never really been my thing. Come on over then!” George said as he led the way to one of the couches and chairs near the back.

Sitting there was, of course, his twin Fred, who looked to be in the middle of telling a story to two girls who were not at all amused. There was another boy sitting next to him however who seemed thoroughly invested in this, although by the way he was laughing it seemed he knew the ending already. “So I told him, ‘Lighten up Perce, if you keep getting this paranoid about losing your Head Boy badge, then the only place you’ll have left to hide it is up your ass!” Fred said with a laugh.

George sat down next to him, “Fat chance, he’s so uptight I’m sure it wouldn’t fit up his ass to begin with! It’d become a diamond under that level of pressure!” At this, the two girls and the boys broke into a fit of laugher.

From across the room could be heard, “I CAN HEAR YOU!” from what could only be a pissed off Percy.

Fred turned to face him and yelled back, “YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO!” which caused the entire common room to erupt into laughter.

George turned to the boys sitting on the couch with him, “Oi! Move over Lee! Make way for the new girl.”

This boy Lee had finally looked up at me for the first time and his eyes went wide. He got up off the couch and took my hand, “Hello there beautiful! What are you doing hanging out with a guy as ugly as George?” he said as he kissed the top of my hand.

“Oh now you’re dead!” George said as he tackled Lee to the ground.

Fred grinned at me and patted the spot next to him. “Are they always like this?” I asked him, but one of the girls answered,

“Oh of course they are, they’re boys. I’m Angelina by the way, and this is Alicia. You’re Geneviève right?”

I had somewhat forgotten entirely that nearly two hours before my name had been announced to the entire school, “Oh, yeah. I go by Evie though. Nice to meet you! Sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude on your conversation.”

Alicia let out a laugh, “Are you kidding? You saved us from another ridiculous Fred story, we should be thanking you!”

Fred rolled his eyes, “Oh shut it Alicia! You know you love my stories just as much as you love me.”

She leaned forward and looked him in the eyes, “Exactly, I hate you and your stories too. Glad you understand!” Angelina snorted from laughing so hard and I couldn’t help myself from laughing as well- even George and Lee stopped their impromptu wrestling match and roared with laughter.

The boys got off the floor and returned to the couch. Lee was about to sit down next to me when George shoved him out of the way, “HEY!” he yelled as he fell.

George smirked, “Don’t make me kick your ass again Lee!” and sat down next to me.

Angelina, now that she was done laughing, leaned forward and spoke a little quieter, “So… who do you think is going to try out this year?”

Fred looked over his shoulder, then the other, “Well, Oliver says we could only really need one new chaser since you two are definitely going to keep your spots. I can’t see anyone beating either of you out at tryouts, so it really just comes down to the third.”

Alicia leaned in now too, “You think Katie might not make it this year? I thought she was great.”

Now George chimed in, “She is good, don’t get me wrong. I just think we may need someone more aggressive. Katie was the easiest target these past two years and has been put in the hospital wing more than all of us combined…”

There was a collective sigh, and then Lee leaned forward from the other end of the couch and looked at me, “Say Evie, you wouldn’t happen to be good at quidditch would ya?”

I stammered a bit, “Oh, well I-I’ve never played, and I’ve, uh, only rode a broom a handful of times. They aren’t as popular in the States- you know with the MACUSA’s strict statue of secrecy. There aren’t many places to practice without the risk of being seen by a No-Maj.”

They all kind of turned their heads a bit, “I’m sorry, a what?” asked Alicia.

“A no-maj? You know, a person who isn’t a wizard or witch?”

They all chuckled now, “You mean a muggle,” said Fred.

I rolled my eyes, “Yeah, well, we call them no-maj alright? Seems a bit nicer than your term. Anyways, I had always wanted to play quadpot, but quidditch sounds interesting as well. Would any of you be able to teach me? I may try out if I like it.”

Before anyone could say anything, Fred put his arm around me, “I’d be happy to teach you _any_ day of the week,” he said with a wink.

George reached over and shoved Fred’s arm off, “Fuck off, Fred. If anyone is going to teach her, it’s going to be me.”

Fred rolled his eyes and pouted a little, but I couldn’t help blushing. The thought of spending more time alone with George made my stomach fill with butterflies and felt like heat was radiating through my body. _What is this feeling?_ I’d dealt with anxiety for a long time, but this felt like a different kind of nerves. It was the same kind of nerves I felt when I saw his face at the sorting ceremony; when he waved at me to sit down next to him, but now it was even stronger. I’ve never really liked anyone before- I mean, when I was a kid I had a crush on a no-maj boy, but that was before I knew I was a witch. Of course I was also a child, so it couldn’t have been a real crush. Not at all like what I was feeling right now.

“Oooh look how red her face is! I think she definitely wants you to teach her George” Angelina said with a laugh.

George was now beaming with the cutest grin and kind of swaying his head triumphantly back and forth. He put his hand on my thigh and looked at me, “It’s settled then, and after class tomorrow I’ll take you out on the grounds for some practice.” The butterflies in my stomach now moved lower and my heart began to race. _How could just his hand on my thigh make me feel this way?_ My mind began to wander as I stared at his hand, thinking of how I wanted nothing more than his hand to move farther up my leg until-

“Oh she cannot! If that’s the case then I will DEFINITELY be out there training her too!” Fred was now yelling at George.

George sighed, but threw his hands up in the air, “Fine! You can be out there too, but she WILL be training on your broom since I need to be in the air training her!”

Fred now leaned across me, “We will take turns and trade off on whose broom she uses until she gets her own.”

George rolled his eyes, “Fine! Whatever!” Fred now smirked and put his hand on my thigh while looking directly at George. I turned to look at him too, and saw him clenching his jaw.

Fred leaned forward again, but this time to whisper in my ear, “That’s not the only thing we could take turns with.”

Before I could even react, George was pulling Fred down to the ground yelling, “You pervert!” The whole common room turned to watch now and the chants of ‘Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!’ had broken out.

It took only a few seconds before Percy came over, “Cut it out you two! I’M HEAD BOY YOU HAVE TO LISTEN NOW STOP!” This had absolutely no effect on them, and they kept rolling around wrestling each other.

Suddenly there was an “OI!” and they looked up- it was their younger brother Ron, “How have you guys ALREADY stolen my new friend!”

Fred popped up next to him and laughed, “Your new friend? She obviously likes us better!”

George now popped up on the other side, “Yeah and you’re a proper ass you are! Asking all those personal questions at dinner, of course she likes us better!”

Ron crossed his arms, “She’s in MY YEAR! Lay off! Evie come over and hang out with us, we’re a lot better than both of these perverts”

Simultaneously they yelled, “WE ARE NOT PERVS” but a collective murmuring from the other Gryffindors seemed to disagree with their claim. Seeing as Ron did have a point and I would actually need to know people in my year since that’s who I have class with, I decided to take him up on his offer.

“I really should get to know people in my year, but I’ll hang out with you all later. Can’t wait to learn quidditch!” Fred and George looked a bit disappointed, but they didn’t protest. They just returned to the couch where Lee still sat and began to take in what seemed like taunts from the girls. As I walked over to where Ron was sitting I swear I overheard Angelina say, “It’s so obvious” to which George replied, “No! I just- you know- I…” and then I could no longer hear over the roar of other conversations.

“Did you say you’re going to learn quidditch?” Ron asked as I sat down in a chair by the fire. He, Hermione, and Harry were sitting on the couch in front of the fire. Hermione was immersed in a book and didn’t seem to be paying attention, but Harry leaned forward at this question.

“Oh,” I started, “Yeah, I’ve never played but they were talking about tryouts and said I should learn. Maybe I’ll like it and try out.”

Harry chimed in, “Got anyone to teach you? I’m the seeker for the team so I’d be happy to give you a few pointers from what I know.”

It was so strange to be looking at him now after the story I just heard from my father. _I wonder how much he knows? Does he remember us playing together as kids?_ “Yeah, uh, actually George and Fred are going to teach me. They said I could use one of their brooms until I get my own. Do you have any recommendations?”

Ron’s eyes bugged out a little, “Hang on, my older brothers have already made plans to get you alone? Those creeps need to be taught a lesson!”

Hermione laughed at this, “And who’s going to teach them, Ron? You? That’s laughable. They would have you pinned to the ground faster than you could even _say_ ‘quidditch’”

Harry let out a laugh, but Ron just turned red in the face, “I could take them! I- I- I would win! They need to stop swooping in on every girl in the castle! They’re animals!”

Harry looked at him with a smirk, “Sure sounds like you’re jealous Ron.”

He turned an even brighter shade of red, “Am not! That’s- that’s- that’s codswollop that’s what that is! Anyways, Evie, there’s loads of brooms to choose from, but it just depends on your, erm, budget.”

“Hmm, well I guess I’ll just ask my father to send me whatever he thinks is best. I think he played quidditch at one point.”

Ron’s eyes bulged out even wider this time, “THINK he played quidditch? Your dad was one of the best chasers this school has ever seen! He and Harry’s dad were absolute legends! They won the Cup almost every year they played! It was a shock to everyone when they didn’t try to play professionally, but of course quidditch wasn’t the biggest thing on people’s mind at that time…” There was a new sense of tension in the air as Ron trailed off realizing the path the conversation was going. He looked mortified, probably afraid I was going to run off again.

Sensing the tension, I just figured it best to change the subject, “So what time is breakfast in the morning?”

At this, Hermione looked up and closed her book almost excitedly, “Right, you need to understand the schedule. The first week will be a bit different because third years choose their concentration, or concentrations, this year. The first week gives the opportunity to try out all the classes and decide. Some people have already decided, but I’ve decided to try them all just to be safe.”

Ron rolled his eyes, “Over achiever this one is.”

Hermione glared at him but continued, “So you need to be up by 7:30 at the latest. Personally I like to go down to the Great Hall at that time, even though breakfast hasn’t started yet, so I can get a bit more studying in.”

Ron interrupted again, “Us normal people just go down around 8 or so because that’s when there’s actually food.”

If looks could kill, Hermione’s would have killed Ron in this very moment, but she started again, “Classes start at 9, if you’ve already chosen your concentration and sub-concentrations then you’ll already have your class schedule, but if you take all of them like me then you’ll have four classes before lunch and five after lunch.”

Ron busted out, “FIVE?! They’re trying to murder us!”

Hermione shouted, “Oh deal with it Ron- it’s not forever! Besides, they’re only 45 minutes, and on Tuesday you only have five total. Four in the morning, one in the afternoon, and then we go to McGonagall that evening and tell her our narrowed down list or our choices if we know! I imagine I’m going to need a whole week to decide with all these incredible options and I..”

I had tuned out at this point and caught myself looking at the couch where George still sat with a smile across his face as he laughed at something. I wanted so badly to be sitting next to him again, listening to his jokes, to have his hand gripping my thigh… I must have zoned out cause next thing I knew, George was staring right back at me with a smirk and a wink. I turned away quickly, blushing harder than ever before. _I’m so fucking STUPID! I was staring right at him like a creep!_

“Evie, did you hear me?” Hermione said looking at me intently.

“What? Oh, yeah, uh, thank you! Um, I’m really tired, long day you know. I’m going to head to bed now, goodnight!” I said getting up quickly.

“Do you need help finding your…” I heard her say, but I was trying to get out of there before I did another dumb thing.

Right before I made it to the stairs, I felt a strong, rough hand grab my wrist, “Where are you running off to?”

I turned, heart pounding in my chest, and of course there was George towering over me. I couldn’t look him in the face, I was still too embarrassed that he had caught me staring, “I- uh, well I’m really tired so I just thought I’d get some rest. Seems like a long day of classes tomorrow.”

He let go of my wrist, but brought his fingers up to my chin and made me look up at him, “Need any help finding your room?”

This cannot be happening. I must be dreaming. I must have entered an alternate reality. That’s the only way to explain why the most attractive boy I had ever seen would be giving me attention like this. _Wait,_ I thought, _maybe it’s all in my head? Maybe he’s just being nice!_ Truth is, I had no idea where my room is anyways. “Actually, yeah I do need help. I have no idea where I’m going.”

He dropped his hand from my chin and intertwined his fingers with mine, “Don’t worry love, I’ll gladly show you the way!” As he led me up the stairs, I could feel the eyes of the common room staring into my back.

We climbed the tower stairs for a bit till we reached a room numbered 138. It also had a sign the said my name, so in hindsight I didn’t really need his help. He must have known this cause he was grinning at me, “Yeah, I figured they’d probably label it like this. The sign will disappear in the morning though, so definitely memorize your number.”

I reached for the handle but realized I didn’t even have a key, “How am I supposed to get in?”

He grinned even more, “So the cool thing is only your hand on that handle will be able to open it. The cooler thing is I can also just do this.” He pulled his wand out and pointed at the door, “ _Alohomora_ ” and the door opened a bit.

“Wow, so there’s no such thing as privacy here huh?” I said as I stepped into the room.

“Oh, no there is! All you have to do is press this button here and it will put a protective enchantment on the door so no one can do that. Already trying to find ways to keep me out huh?” he said with a laugh.

I turned away blushing again and finally got a look at the room, and it was actually pretty big. Dark wood floors, stonewalls, and bookcases lining part of the walls. There was a large bed pressed against the wall directly across from me- it must be a king size cause it is huge! It had a comforter and sheets with the same dark red as our house colors and fluffy looking white pillows. There was a wardrobe on the wall to the right of the bed, and a door that must be to the bathroom on the wall to the left of. On that same wall as the door to the bathroom, there’s a fireplace that was making the room feel so warm and cozy. There was a loveseat in front of the fire- somewhere I would surely be spending a good chunk of time relaxing. To the right of where I was standing by the doorway were the bookcases that were built into the corner, and a desk immediately to the left of them right by the wardrobe.

“Bloody hell, I’ve never seen a room like this! And you get it all to yourself! Fred, Ron and I have to share a room. Percy got his own when he became a prefect in his 5th year, and Ginny gets her own cause Mum loves to spoil her only girl.” George said with a laugh that trailed off. Even though he had laughed, I couldn’t help but feel he actually held some resentment.

“George, are you okay?” I asked, gently placing my hand on his arm.

Quickly, George shook my hand off and cleared his throat, “Yeah, I’m fine. Anyways, glad you like your room. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Before I could say anything, he had already shut my door. Half of me wanted to run after him and apologize, the other half was convinced to stay put and stop worrying about a boy I just met.

I walked over to the loveseat and lay down to enjoy the fire. _I’m just imagining it aren’t I?_ I couldn’t calm my brain; it was racing with so many thoughts. It would have been crazy enough just trying to get used to this new place, in an entirely different country, thousands of miles from home, but on top of that I found out the true horror of my mother’s death on my first night here.

With all things considered, it’s understandable why my thoughts were moving at a million miles per second, but the craziest thing about all of this is that my thoughts weren’t even about any of those things. The only thing I could think of is that tall redheaded boy that made my heart skip a beat. The one that had just taught me the true meaning of the phrase ‘they give me butterflies.’ The one that by simply putting his hand on my thigh had made me feel something I’d never felt before.

Thinking of it now, I imagined him running his hand farther up my leg… under my skirt… teasing the edges of my underwear. _What am I doing?_ I couldn’t stop myself though, I was already running my hand down my body and into my panties, closing my eyes to let my mind run wild even more. George’s big, strong hands teasing the edges of my underwear… him looking at me with that stupid smirk on his face as I look at him pleading for more. A little chuckle as he slips his hand into my panties, ever so slowly beginning to rub my clit… A soft moan came from the back of my throat and took me by surprise. _Fuck_. _This thought alone is doing it for me?_ I pulled my hand out from my underwear and found my fingers covered already. I can’t be doing this- I need to get up and get ready for bed, but I just need a moment to breathe…

Lying on the couch, staring at the fire, I began to feel myself being overcome with exhaustion. The only thing running through my head as I fought my drooping eyelids was how in the world I was ever going to focus around George while riding a broom. _That means more time alone with him though… well Fred will be there._ Still, I couldn’t help the smile that had emerged on my face as I began to drift off to sleep.


	9. Class Begins

“Evie… Evie… Evie wake up!” a voice said to me. My eyes opened and slowly came into focus; a face with thick, brown hair was staring down at me. I let out a yawn, “Oh, uh, good morning Hermione.” There was a puzzled look on her face, “Why on earth aren’t you sleeping in your bed?”

I looked around in my tired haze and realized she was right- I had slept the entire night on the loveseat. The once roaring fire was now extinguished in front of me. “Erm, I don’t know, I laid down here when I got in last night and the fire felt wonderful, so I guess I just drifted off.”

She rolled her eyes and walked over to my wardrobe, opening it and starting to rummage through, “Honestly! You’re lucky I came in here to check on you otherwise you would have been late!” I got up and stretched a bit, looking around trying to figure out the damn time. _You have a phone dumbass_. I reached into the robe I had slept in, and found my phone- dead of course.

“You brought a cellular?” Hermione asked me, looking up from the uniform and robe set she had laid out on my bed for me. “Oh, yeah, don’t you have one?” I remember Dumbledore mentioning he didn’t know how to work one, but I figured it was just because he’s old. She laughed a little, “Why ever would you need it? We use magic for everything and have much more proper ways of communicating in my opinion. Of course I know how they work, as my parents are muggles, but I’ve always hated them. They are the most pointless distraction in my opinion.”

I pondered this for a minute, trying to imagine a world where magic is used freely and commonly. “Well, in the States, we have really strict laws. Even Dumbledore, last night, knew to call my father instead of send any magical communication. That kind of stuff lands people in prison. We have magical apps on our cell phones, ones that no-majs can’t find, so we can communicate with other witches and wizards safely. The only friends I’ve ever had have been online seeing as we have to live in isolation and we can’t interact with no-majs.”

Hermione looked down, it seemed she was trying to choose her words carefully, “I hope this doesn’t offend you, but I’ve done a lot of reading on magical society in the U.S. and…” she trailed off, so I know she holds an opinion that’s likely not flattering to my country.

I looked at her, “Really, it’s okay. I would love to hear what you think.”

At this she stormed over to the loveseat I was standing by and sat down looking at the extinguished fireplace, “It’s unbelievable! It’s completely backwards! They run an entirely authoritarian regime and it’s absolutely mental. I don’t know how anyone survives over there- especially your father being the incredible wizard he is.” She stopped and looked at me as if she’d just accidentally cursed my family.

“No, no, it’s okay. I know now… about my parents, I mean. I promise people talking about them, or me for that matter does not offend me. I just didn’t know.” I told her. She pondered over what to say next, obviously not wanting to be rude even though I had just told her she wasn’t rude at all.

Finally she asked, “What do you mean you didn’t know? If you don’t mind me asking, of course.”

I sat down next to her on the loveseat, and once again stared at the extinguished flame, “My father never told me about how my mother really died. He never told me how they really met, never raised me with magic until I discovered my own power, and definitely never told me about Voldemort.” At the mention of his name, she shuddered, but I continued on, “When Ron was asking me those questions last night, I only ran off because I was so confused. Not to mention the fact that I had caught all the other students whispering about me as well. It was entirely overwhelming. Dumbledore had my father come last night, and he finally told me the real story. So when I tell you that I’m not offended and you’re not being rude, I promise you I’m telling you the truth.”

Hermione, though still nervous, looked up at me and smiled, “Well, get dressed. We’re going to be late for breakfast!” I grabbed the uniform and robe set from the bed and made my way into the bathroom.

Shutting the door behind me, I finally had a look in the bathroom. I had been so exhausted I didn’t even come in here last night. The floor and walls were stone, but there was a large mirror that took up most the wall, and a ‘his and her’ sink built into a stone counter top. There was a dark wooden stall for a toilet that had a closing door, and on the end there was a big porcelain bathtub that had a shower head above. Given George’s reaction to the room last night, I suppose my father had really gone all out to provide me with the best experience here. _I wonder what his room was like?_ He was an orphan after all, so he must not have had this luxurious a space.

After using the bathroom and brushing my teeth, I threw on my uniform and robe. I stepped out while brushing my hair and asked Hermione, “What time is it anyways? I really need to set an alarm for tomorrow.”

She looked down at the watch on her wrist, “It’s a quarter to eight so we really need to hurry.”

I couldn’t help but laugh out loud, “Here I was thinking it was past eight and breakfast had already started! Your version of late and mine are a bit different” She rolled her eyes, but I caught her chuckling a bit.

I exited the bathroom and walked over to the wardrobe. Somehow, as if by magic, my trunk had already been unpacked and all my clothes were either hanging, or were folded in the drawers. On the bottom of the wardrobe, I grabbed my black school shoes and my tiny little black backpack. I put my shoes on and looked over to the desk where my quills, inks, and parchment had been neatly placed. Looking to the bookshelf, I noticed the books my dad had gotten for me were already placed on the shelves. _Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfigurations, Potions, Arithmancy…_ notably missing was, of course, a textbook on apparition. Father had begged me not to take the class, which I know I don’t need, but an easy A sounds so nice. I guess given that these are the only four textbooks I have, these must be the classes he wants me to take.

I grabbed my school supplies and laid them on my bed, and then opened my tiny backpack. Hermione let out a small gasp, “You can’t possibly be trying to fit all of that in your tiny bag? It will never fit!”

I gave her a little smirk and teased, “Oh? You really don’t think so?” Bewildered, she watched as I stuffed my massive Potions textbook into my backpack, followed by the thick Defense Against the Dark Arts book, the rather wide Transfigurations book, the heavy Arithmancy book, and last my quills, inks, and parchments. I zipped up my bag, and slung it over my shoulder.

“How in the world could all of that fit in that tiny backpack?” She asked, looking behind me as if they were all going to fall out.

I chuckled a little, “Oh it’s really just a simple undetectable extension charm. I have them on all of my bags.” There was a twinkle in her eyes as if she had just been given a wonderful idea, but at the same time she seemed somewhat resentful.

Hermione shook her head and looked down, speaking a bit quieter; “We should head down for breakfast now.”

I grabbed my wand from the loveseat where it had fallen out, _Oh shit,_ I thought. “ _Accio_ charger!” I said. Suddenly, my trunk flew open on the floor in front of my wardrobe and out flew a small, flat, circular object.

Hermione lifted her chin a bit, more confident, “We don’t use electricity here, so you won’t be able to charge your cellular.”

Placing the circular object on the nightstand, I put my phone on top of it, which lit up slightly to show a charging symbol, “Oh, it’s okay. That’s a wizard’s charger, so it doesn’t need electricity.” At this, Hermione whisked around quickly and headed for the door, only muttering, “Come on” as the walked through.

Down in the common room, Harry and Ron laid asleep in two of the chairs near the stairs. Hermione walked over to them and hit them both, “Wake up! Oh wake up Ronald!” Ron awoke and cowered a bit, covering his face with his arms.

Harry looked over and saw me by the stairs, “She woke you up at the ass crack of dawn too I see.” Hermione turned around and smack Harry on the arm again, “Alright! Sorry! No need for violence this early!” Hermione rolled her eyes and just marched towards the portrait hole.

Ron looked at me, “What’s got her panties in a wad this morning?”

I shrugged, “Don’t look at me, I just got here.”

The three of us trudged sleepily behind Hermione as we made our way to the Great Hall. As we walked in, food appeared on the table, which must have meant it was only just now 8 am. The Great Hall was much quieter than the night before. It seemed most people were still in their dorms, because the only people at the house tables so far were small, scared looking students that must have been first years. “I told you she gets here early, absolutely mental that one is.” Ron leaned over and said quietly to me. We got to the Gryffindor table and took a spot towards the middle.

For breakfast there was toast, scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, and orange juice. No sooner had we sat down, Professor McGonagall approached us, “Hello you four. Miss Goddard, I’m glad to see you have made friends. Now, since all of you are undecided on your concentrations, you will be taking all the classes. I have here, your class schedule for the next two days.” She pulled out only one piece of paper, however with a wave of her wand it became four that floated right into our hands.

She leaned in closer and spoke softer, “I trust I need not remind you of a certain someone who has escaped from Azkaban. With this in mind, I implore the three of you, and now Miss Goddard as well, to follow the rules this year.” She narrowed her eyes, and then turned into a brisk walk back towards the faculty table. Hermione had gone red in the face, Ron was rolling his eyes, but Harry just looked down at his hands in his lap.

“What was all that about?” I asked.

Ron grabbed a heaping helping of bacon and shoved a piece in his mouth, “See, so far the three of us have saved the school twice in our past two years, but they can never seem to thank us for that.”

Hermione hit him in the arm, “It’s because we always break nearly every rule to do so! Look, this year is going to be different. Concentrations are starting which means we’ll have more homework than ever before! OWL’s are in two years, NEWT’s are in four, and if any of us want a decent job we have to study harder. Not to mention Sirius Black is out there, and we need to keep Harry safe. It’ll be best for us to just lay low and focus on our work.”

I turned to Harry, who still hadn’t looked up from staring at his hands, “Harry, are you okay?”

Turning to me, he said, “I just don’t understand why everyone says I’m in danger. Why would Sirius Black be after me?” _He doesn’t know._ My father had told me last night exactly why Black could be after Harry, so how could Harry not know? _Should I tell him?_

Before I could think over this any longer, I felt an arm wrap around my shoulder, “Morning beautiful, this seat taken?” Of course it was none other than Fred Weasley. George sat down across from him, next to his brother Ron, glaring at Fred’s arm around me.

Ron piped up now, “Oi get off her you pervert!”

Fred took his arm back, but grinned at his brother, “What? Jealous you’ve never been confident enough to even breathe in Granger’s direction?” At this Ron turned red, but the rest of us burst out laughing.

The rest of breakfast went by with plenty of laughs as Lee joined Fred and George, and those three seem to joke nonstop. Before I knew it, it was 8:50 and Hermione said we needed to head to our first lesson. All of us got up and started to walk towards the big doors that lead to the entrance hall. Hermione, Harry, Ron, and I had Care of Magical Creatures first while George, Fred, and Lee were off to Defense Against the Dark Arts.

As I made my way through the entrance hall towards the doors outside, I felt a strong hand grip my wrist, “Hey Evie, we’re still on for quidditch tonight right?” It was George, smiling down at me with that goofy smile of his.

I blushed a little as I remembered our conversation solidifying our plans last night, “Of course, I’m really looking forward to it!”

George’s smile widened, “Fantastic! See you later!” He took off down the hall, and I whisked around and sped up to catch up with my friends.

The morning passed by quickly. Seeing as we only really had about 40 minutes for each class given the 5 minutes we were given to walk to our next class, I couldn’t believe it was already time for lunch. We had started our morning outside with Care of Magical Creatures followed by Herbology- two classes I was certain I would not be taking. The professors seemed wonderful, but creatures and plants are not something I’m particularly interested in.

Next we had gone inside for Divination. Hermione scoffed at the lesson and called it preposterous, however she said she would only consider it somewhat worthy because the Divination concentration was combined with Astronomy, which had apparently been one of Hermione’s favorite core classes. Following that, we had Muggle Studies. Harry and Ron had fallen asleep in this one, partially because once they found out that History of Magic was part of the studies they immediately checked out. Hermione told me they had hated History of Magic as a core class, so I could see their aversion to this as a concentration. I found Muggle Studies to be entertaining as it’s always funny hearing a wizard try to explain no-maj inventions, but I wouldn’t want this as my main focus.

The lunch hour seemed to go quickly, and I didn’t see the twins or Lee anywhere. Before I knew it, Hermione was rushing us off to our next lesson. The four of us filed into a large classroom that was filled with chatter. Among the students could be heard, “I wonder what they’ll be like?” and “I wonder if this one survives this year?”

I turned to Hermione, who had forced our group to sit at the very front, “What are they whispering about?”

She shifted a little before catching my gaze, “Well, Defense Against the Dark Arts has been a bit… rocky. This is our third new teacher and it’s only our third year. Some say the position is cursed.” I stared forward now at the office door, my heart beating a bit faster waiting for it to open. _This is the class my father really wants me to make my concentration, but what if I don’t like it? What if this subject is cursed?_

Suddenly the door to the office flew open and a tall wizard with some ragged looking robes emerged. He had light brown hair, and though he seemed like he couldn’t be older than my father, he already had some streaks of grey in his hair. There was a scar that covered much of his face, and he looked as though he was ill.

His voice, however, boomed through the classroom, which reassured me that he actually was younger than he looked, “Good afternoon class. My name is Professor Lupin, and I welcome you to Defense Against the Dark Arts. Should you choose this class as your concentration, or even your sub-concentration, I warn you that it is _not_ for the faint of heart. We will not only be discussing situations in which you’d use defensive spells, but we will be practicing them often.”

The class was completely silent and totally captivated. Nobody was even tapping their foot, and a quick look around the class found nearly every student on the edge of their seat. Professor Lupin spoke again, “Now, I want you all to get in a single file line behind this young man here.” He had placed his hand upon a nervous dark haired boy who was staring at his desk- I heard Ron whisper to Harry “Oh poor Neville, can never catch a break.”

Everyone stood up from the desks, and with a quick wave of his wand, Professor Lupin had sent the desks flying across the floor to the wall. There was now an open space on the floor that filled quickly with students scrambling to make a line- everyone was clearly excited.

Once the line had formed, Professor Lupin spoke again, “Now, Neville Longbottom is it? Right, Neville I would like you to try to disarm me. Everyone, the goal of this lesson is for at least some of you to be able to disarm me of my wand. Ready? Alright Neville, let’s see it.”

I peaked my head around from the back. The line had formed so quickly that Hermione, Ron, Harry, and I had found ourselves in the very back of the line. This was the first lesson today that had included any magic at all, and it’s clear I wasn’t the only one excited about it. Neville, however, looked absolutely terrified. His wand was pointing at Professor Lupin, shaking so much that I was sure it was going to fly out of his hand.

“Come on Neville, I promise you can’t hurt me.” Lupin said with a laugh. Neville dropped his wand and stared down at his feet, muttering something to the floor. “What was that?” Professor Lupin asked him.

Without looking up from the floor, Neville stuttered while turning bright pink, “I-I-I- I can’t. I don’t know the spell. I’m sorry.”

Professor Lupin looked as though he felt some remorse for putting this nervous boy on the spot, but he smiled, “Oh no matter! It’s all right! Just step to the back of the line and you can give it a go after everyone else has gone. Neville nodded his head slightly and sulked a bit as he came to the back of the line.

Some kids had snickered a bit as he made his way to the back, but this died out quickly as so far no student had managed to get Professor Lupin’s wand out of his hand. One student by the name of Seamus had somehow caused an explosion when he attempted, and from what Harry said to me it was apparently not the first time this had happened.

Finally we made our way to the front, and Hermione had managed to make Lupin’s wand fall to the floor. “Well done Miss Granger!” She blushed and made her way over towards where some desks were piled up and other students were observing. Ron had attempted to disarm Professor Lupin, but his wand had only wiggled slightly in his hand.

Harry stepped up now, and confidently shouted, “Expelliarmus!” which caused Lupin’s wand to fly off to the side. “Very good Mr. Potter!” Lupin exclaimed as he retrieved his wand. With a bit more confidence to him now, Harry held his head high and walked over to join Ron and Hermione.

Finally, it was my turn, and I was the very last to go. Neville had sulked off to the side to avoid having to go again, so now all eyes were truly on me. I had dueled my father plenty of times before, so I wasn’t too concerned about my performance. “And what’s your name dear?” Professor Lupin asked me.

“Uh, Evie Goddard sir.” I responded. His face shifted slightly upon hearing this, but he held his stance and raised his wand.

I took a deep breath, pointed my wand towards his, and shouted, “Expelliarmus!” Professor Lupin’s wand shot out of his hand and flew right over into my free hand, just as if I had been practicing with my father.

A big smile came across his face, “Absolutely perfect Miss Goddard! You definitely take after your father, you’re a natural!”

_My father? Does he know my father?_ Professor Lupin glanced down at his wristwatch, “Alright class, very well done today! I hope to be seeing you all in my class if you choose to take it. Now off you go, I’ll release you a few minutes early today to give you more time to get to your next lesson.”

Students started rushing out of the classroom to hurry off to wherever their next lesson was, but I took my time gathering my bag. “Evie, we have to get to Charms!” Hermione said to me.

“Give me a minute, I just want to ask Professor Lupin something.” I responded.

“Excuse me, Professor Lupin? If you don’t mind me asking, you said I take after my father, did you know him?” I asked curiously.

That smile returned to his face, “Ah yes Evie, I know your father very well, but more of that another day. Miss Granger is correct, you really need to be off to your next lesson.”

On our walk to our next lesson, Harry, Ron, and Hermione couldn’t stop raving about how wonderful Professor Lupin was- they claim he’s the best they’ve ever had for Defense Against the Dark Arts. I, on the other hand, couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that he knows my father. _Is this why father is so adamant that I study Defense Against the Dark Arts?_ I knew one thing for sure: I would be taking Professor Lupin’s class.


	10. The Prodigy

Charms seemed to bore in comparison to the class we had just taken. Not to mention, I was already well versed in charms, so if anything I’d just get a charms textbook and study on my own. After Charms was Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall, and surprisingly I found it quite interesting. McGonagall seemed like a strict teacher, yet it was clear she was a master of the subject. I had always been quite poor at transfigurations when I studied with my father, but it seemed like a useful skill that I should consider studying harder. Transfigurations finished and there was a collective groan from Hermione, Harry, and Ron.

“What is it?” I asked.

Ron groaned, “Ugh, now we have to go to Snape’s class. I swear after today, I will never be taking his class again!”

Hermione rolled her eyes, “Didn’t you say you want to be an auror? You’re going to need Potions for that. You’ll have to pick a double concentration if you’re serious about becoming an auror, Ronald.”

Harry and Ron both protested to this, but Hermione shot them a glare that caused it to die out quickly. Harry leaned towards me and spoke in a hushed tone, “Snape has got to be the single worst teacher in the entire school. He is a bully, and he absolutely hates me. I would do everything to try and get on his good side.”

Ron laughed having overheard this, “Fat chance! Snape doesn’t like anyone except his own Slytherins, and he hates Gryffindors more than anyone else, AND Evie is friends with us, so sorry but there’s no way in hell you have a single chance of being on Snape’s nonexistent ‘good side.’”

_Fantastic, cause a hateful teacher is just what I need. Merlin, I hope I don’t need potions._

We trudged our way down the endless steps until we got into what seemed to be a dungeon. It was dark and considerably colder down here- _how could anyone work down here?_ We approached the door to a classroom that many other students were waiting at as well.

“Oh bloody hell, we’ve avoided him all day why does he have to be in THIS class?” Ron muttered to Harry.

“Who is he talking about?” I whispered to Hermione.

Hermione stood in front of me so her back was turned to the other students, “You see that pale boy with the really blonde hair that's nearly white? That’s Draco Malfoy, and he’s such a bully. He and Harry have rows constantly, it’s like they’re enemies.”

This blonde haired boy suddenly looked directly at me, “Ah, Granger, already tainting my reputation with the new student?” He walked over and shouldered Harry as he approached, “You should be more confident Granger, _like_ enemies? I can’t think of anyone more suitable to be called my enemy than the wretched ‘Boy-Who-Lived.’”

Now Draco’s crew of Slytherin’s was snickering, but Harry and Ron were seething. Hermione rushed over to put space between the boys and Draco, “Don’t give him the satisfaction, it’ll only lose us house points and you know it.”

Draco laughed, “Finally got yourself a maternal figure since your mother’s dead, Potter? I reckon you need proper guidance since you lack basic decency, but I would never trust a filthy mudblood.”

I didn’t even realize it, but suddenly I had drawn my wand and pointed it directly at Draco’s face. My blood was boiling, and I was ready to lay this piece of shit out. He recoiled a bit at the sight of my wand; “You dare try it on your first day? Of course, what could I expect from a stupid, arrogant American!”

Just as I was prepared to knock him on his ass, the door to the classroom flew open and a man with black robes and greasy hair emerged. “What’s going on here?” He spoke in a monotonous tone. Seeing the sight of my wand pointed at Draco’s face, the professor cocked his head slightly, “Already getting in a fight on your first day, Miss Goddard? Ten points from Gryffindor. Now get in here and sit down, all of you.”

The class silently filed into the classroom and took seats. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I grabbed two tables in the back. Hermione leaned over and whispered quietly, “Thanks for having my back, but there’s no sense in fighting with Draco.”

Professor Snape whisked his way to the front of the class and pointed to the board, “Now, you all were taught this potion that cures boils in your first year. I have the instructions listed on the board. If you succeed in making an acceptable potion you will be permitted to take my class, if not then you would be wise to stay far out of my sight. Absolute silence. You have 30 minutes. Begin!”

Ron whispered in a panic, “THIRTY MINUTES?! I’m done for. I’ll never be an auror!”

Snape yelled, “QUIET!”

Hermione whispered even quieter, “I will help you just get started!”

I pulled my cauldron closer and examined the board. I had made this potion many times before, but these instructions seemed different than how I had made it. I trusted my gut more than I trusted this asshole, so I began to make the potion how my father had instructed me. 30 minutes passed by quickly, and I was shocked that Hermione had been able to finish her potion considering she had been secretly helping Ron and Harry as well. Snape made his way around the classroom menacingly, never once saying a positive word to anyone except the Slytherin students who had all “followed instructions perfectly.”

Finally he made his way to our tables, first examining Ron and Harry’s potions, “Per usual, you two barely scrape by. If you plan to take my class, you will need to rely on more than just Miss Granger to escape a failing grade.”

Hermione went red in the face and lowered her eyes to the floor as Snape approached, “Decent. However I ask you allow those two imbeciles to fail on their own next time.” She let out an exhale, and then turned to me with anxiety in her eyes. She had leaned over to me during the brewing to ask what I was doing since it wasn’t Snape’s instruction, I just shrugged.

Snape now eyed me up and down, and then glanced into my cauldron. His eyes widened with a terrifying look and grabbed me by the arm, “What did you do!”

Shocked by his shouting at me, I recoiled a bit, but his grip on my arm only tightened, “I made the cure for boils potion!”

He spoke through his teeth, “That isn’t MY potion!”

Knowing my potion was absolutely perfect, I straightened up and got in his face as he had mine, “And how do you know?”

“Because you silly little girl, my directions, when followed correctly, will make a potion that is just slightly off from the correct potion. I intentionally misled the class to see who could follow directions!” He said, as he got even closer to my face.

This only emboldened me, “Well I saw straight through your façade and made the correct potion- a perfect one at that. You will find that this cures boils easily, and I would argue that’s a more than acceptable potion.”

He grit his teeth and finally released my arm, “Another ten points from Gryffindor, and you will follow my every direction if you take my class. Now, get out.” With a wave of his wand, my potion disappeared from my cauldron. With a smirk, I grabbed my tiny backpack and waltzed out the door. Harry, Ron, and Hermione raced to catch up with me, clearly out of breath.

“That was bloody brilliant Evie! It’s like you beat him at his own game!” exclaimed Harry.

“Did you see his face? I don’t think I’ve ever seen Snape so mad, that was the greatest potions class ever!” Ron said, joining in Harry’s excitement.

Hermione, however, scoffed, “Evie that was really stupid! You should have just followed his instructions! If you have to take Potions, he’s just going to make your life a living hell!”

I rolled my eyes, “I don’t care, and I’m not going to let a bully push me around- no matter their age.”

It was at this moment that the annoying pale boy emerged again, “Granger’s right you know, that _was_ exceptionally stupid. Then again, I wouldn’t expect anything less from an ignorant American. They’re all dim-witted mudbloods, not a speck of purity in any American’s body. It’s disgusting that you get to walk these halls- wait till my father hears about this!”

I turned around and faced him, not letting anyone ruin my high, “Oh you’ll run crying to your daddy? Funny thing is, I’d be willing to bet your daddy would still fuck a ‘filthy American’ like me. How’d you like me to be your new step-mommy baby?” Ron, Harry, Hermione, and every passing student burst out laughing.

“Holy shit, this may be the best day of my life!” Ron said through his cackles. Nearly wiping tears from our eyes, the four of us turned to continue on, but I heard a pop and knew that Draco had fired at me.

As I turned around to try to block the curse, a tall figure had stepped in front of me and waved his wand to block, “Firing curses while someone’s back is turned? I ought to beat you to a pulp with my bare hands, Malfoy!”

“I’d love to see you try, Weasley!” Draco sneered as he raised his wand again.

It was George; he had saved me from the curse. Now, I felt I should really teach Draco a lesson. I took a deep breath, focused, quickly turned, and _crack_! I raised my wand to Draco’s neck and whispered, “You sure you want to do that, pretty boy?”

Scared out of his mind, Draco let out a high-pitched scream and fell to the ground. He looked up at me as if he’d seen an unwelcome ghost, “You were over there! How did you- you couldn’t have- I-“

I laughed, “What? Never seen someone apparate before?” His gang of Slytherin’s had backed towards the walls in fear, and the whole corridor had gone silent. George had that big grin on his face.

“Now,” I said, “I would think twice before you ever think about trying to fuck with me, or ANY of my friends. Got it?”

Draco shook his head rapidly; somehow he had become even paler in this entire ordeal. I thought for a moment, questioning whether he had actually learned his lesson. I stepped over his shaking body, and walked over to George. Draco stood up and brushed off his robes; the fear had started to fade from his eyes. Just then something snapped in me and I couldn’t help myself, “ _Calvorio!_ ”

The fear had returned instantly as Draco’s hair began to fall off in tufts. “My hair!” he yelled. Gripping at his rapidly balding head, he ran down the corridor. As he ran, more of his hair blew off and fell to the ground. His gang took off down the corridor after him.

Cheers and laughter erupted from the other students, and George threw his arms around me- picking me up off the ground, “You are a badass Evie! You probably didn’t even need my help there!” He put me back on the ground and turned red in the face a little.

“Are you kidding me? If you hadn’t of stepped up to block that curse, I would have never had a chance. You’re my hero.” I said grabbing his hand and squeezing it a bit. Quickly, I took my hand back and began to feel the heat rising in my face. _You just HAVE to keep embarrassing yourself in front of him, don’t you?_

Ron, who had literal tears from his laughter streaming down his face, “I lied earlier. NOW it’s the best day of my life!”

We said goodbye to George, and headed off to our final lesson of the day. After Harry and Ron had stopped telling me how incredible what I did to Draco was, they started talking about how they were all most excited for this class: Apparition.

They were asking me all kinds of questions about it since I had just done it in front of them, but once again my mind had wandered as I began to think about George. I couldn’t believe that he had just stepped in to protect me there. Why would he do that? Also, how did he know where I was? This school is massive, what are the odds that he would have just been passing by at that moment?

We arrived to a big classroom that was packed full of students- it seemed my friends weren’t the only one’s excited about this class. Instead of desks, there were benches on two walls so that there was a big open space in the middle of the room. There was a large chalkboard that had moving stick figures showing the steps of apparition, and small textbooks piled high on the large desk at the front of the room. We grabbed a seat on a bench toward the front and waited for class to begin.

It seemed the class was starting later than usual as we had been sitting for almost 10 minutes when a small man entered the room- accompanied by Draco Malfoy who had a new head of hair. The class, which had been at a dull roar of conversation, fell silent quickly. Draco walked right up to me and pointed his finger in my face, “That’s her Professor Twycross.”

The professor looked at me, and then back to Draco, “And you say she apparated behind you to curse you?”

Draco lifted his head high and nodded; looking at me as if he was sure he’d won a lottery. Professor Twycross now addressed me, “What’s your name young lady?”

Quietly, I muttered, “Evie Goddard, sir.”

His eyes went wide, and then he smiled, “Well no wonder you can apparate so confidently already! You’re Darren Goddard’s kid! I taught your father right here in this classroom many, many years ago- best student I’ve ever had! Well done, Miss Goddard! Would you mind showing the class an example?”

Draco’s smile had faded and had been replaced with anger, “Aren’t you going to punish her? She made me lose my hair!”

“Well it looks like Madam Pomfrey did a wonderful job restoring it, so no harm done! Now please, take a seat Mr. Malfoy.” Professor Twycross said with that smile still on his face.

Draco stalked away to the corner on the other side of the room where his gang had taken up residence. He leaned over and whispered to them without taking his eyes off me- I simply grinned and blew him a kiss.

“Now if you please, Miss Goddard. Please move from one end of the class to the other.” Professor Twycross said excitedly.

I stood up from the bench and moved towards the back of the classroom where we had come in. I took a breath, turned, and instantly I was looking at the back of the class from behind the professor’s desk.

With such excitement in his voice, Professor Twycross clapped rapidly, “Incredible! It’s absolutely perfect!” The class began to clap as well, with many students staring at me excitedly. “Just out of curiosity, and you don’t have to, but is there a way you could show me a more difficult form of apparition?”

I thought about this for a minute, and with a roar of my empty stomach I knew there was one place I wanted to go right now. It was risky, but given the time of day I think I could manage undetected. “Give me five minutes,” I told him. The students looked confused, but I pictured my destination clearly and _crack!_ Not even five minutes later, I had returned with the exact thing I’d been craving.

Professor Twycross laughed, “Welcome back, Miss Goddard! What’s that you have?”

“These are the best corn dogs, sir. Here, I brought you one as well.” I handed him the one I had brought for him and took a big bite out of mine.

He eyed the delicious treat up and down, “I see, and where in the country did you go to acquire these? I seem to recall these are typically an American favorite, and are quite difficult to find here.”

There had been some laughter from the class upon my return with these. I swallowed my bite, “Oh, they are. These are the best in the world- I went to the Texas State Fair to get these.”

The class went silent, and Professor Twycross suddenly became very serious, “You- you traveled all the way to the States to get these?”

I nodded, still munching on my incredible corn dog. His jaw dropped, “I don’t believe I’ve _ever_ heard of someone your age being able to travel such a distance via apparition. Very few people _my_ age can do it! Miss Goddard, you must be an apparition prodigy!”

The whispers began to turn into a roar around me, but I couldn’t be bothered- I have a good ass corn dog and that’s the only thing that mattered to me at this moment.


	11. A Natural

Fred and George had been waiting in the entrance hall when Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I came down from Apparition. I was answering questions from nearly everyone about apparition, and everyone kept bothering me to hear about my first time doing it.

“That’s a long story,” I started, “And one for another day!”

Finally when we got down into the entrance hall Fred and George came running up, “All right, all right! Bug off, you gremlins!” shouted Fred

“Give her some room, don’t want any of you ending up like Malfoy!” shouted George.

The two of them in one swift motion had scooped me up onto their shoulders and began to carry me into the Great Hall. They yelled, “Make way! Make way for the badass!” As soon as we entered the hall, I was met with resounding cheers from not just the Gryffindor table, but the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws as well. It seems that news travels fast here.

The Slytherin table shot death glares in my direction, but I couldn’t be bothered in the slightest. A scrawny Ravenclaw boy ran up to me as soon as the twins set me down at the Gryffindor table, “Malfoy and his goons have made my life hell for two years now, so thank you for standing up to him! I wish I had the courage to do what you did.”

I just looked down and smiled, I can’t believe no one has bothered to stand up to him sooner. The reason why, I found out, was approaching our table at a rapid pace. With his long black robes trailing behind him, suddenly I was face to face with Snape again.

“So, you attack one of my students and now you’re some kind of celebrity? Actions have consequences, Miss Goddard. It seems the twenty points you lost for Gryffindor earlier wasn’t enough so perhaps I should make it fifty and a week of detention?” He said to me through gritted teeth. His hatred for me was almost tangible.

“Professor Snape! I am the head of Gryffindor house and I request you explain your reasoning for this punishment!” Professor McGonagall had appeared and was staring at Snape with daggers in her eyes. It occurred to me that the entire hall had gone quiet watching these events unfold.

Snape straightened his posture and turned to her, “Minerva, this student of yours attacked one of mine for no reason, surely you agree she needs to be punished?”

George stood up in protest, “That’s rubbish! Malfoy attacked her first! He fired a curse at her while her back was turned! Evie was only defending herself!”

“Quiet, Mr. Weasley!” said Snape through his teeth.

There were some protests from other students; Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws who all claimed to have seen Draco fire at me first while my back was turned. Professor McGonagall listened to these while Snape appeared to have not heard a word.

“As you can see, Professor Snape,” she started, “the evidence all points to Miss Goddard acting in self-defense. Now, I suggest you speak with Mr. Malfoy about firing curses at anyone, especially while their back is turned, before he finds himself in detention with me for attacking one of _my_ students.” Professor McGonagall looked sternly at Snape, and then shot a quick wink towards me.

Professor Snape watched her stroll away and then turned back to me, this time speaking much quieter, “I would advise you to watch yourself, Miss Goddard. There’s already one ego-filled celebrity at this school, I will not tolerate another.” He shot a menacing look at Harry, and then flicked his robe as he walked back toward the faculty table.

“Does he always act like he has a broomstick up his ass?” I asked as I sat down at the table.

Every single Gryffindor that had heard me nodded their head. Soon enough, though, everyone began to recount their version of what I had done to Draco and dinner was filled with thunderous laughter. Fred and Lee did the funniest impression as they both fell to the floor with their arms covering their faces, screaming in a high pitched voice, “Please don’t kill me! I’m too rich to die!”

Through the ongoing laughter, I turned around to find Draco Malfoy already staring at me from across the room, but he wasn’t giving me a death glare as the other Slytherins had. He just looked… sad, maybe? Confused? _Maybe I actually dented his ego_ , I thought to myself- how nice that would be.

As we finished up dinner, and the stories and impressions died off, students had resumed bombarding me about how I apparate. Even some seventh years came over asking for tips- they already knew how to do it, but they complained about only ever being able to go short distances.

“Look, I don’t know how to explain traveling long distances. I’ve always been able to do it, so I can’t help you,” I said quite flatly.

Looking a bit dejected, the seventh years made their way back to the end of the table they had come from. Hermione had been rather quiet ever since the Apparition lesson, but now she leaned across the table, “Evie, how did you first learn to apparate? How did your father teach you?”

A bunch of the Gryffindors leaned in upon hearing this, but not wanting to divulge in the story I leaned forward and whispered to our small group, “If you want to hear the story, I’ll tell you all, but only privately. Maybe tonight I’ll invite you all up to my dorm so I can speak freely without everyone trying to overhear.”

Hermione beamed and nodded her head; Ron and Harry had shaken their heads excitedly as well. Now Fred, Lee, Angelina, Alicia, and George leaned over, “Hey!” said Fred, “we want to know the secret too!”

I grabbed him by the collar and pulled him close, “Shut it you idiot! You all can hear it too, but shut your damn mouth! I don’t want all of Gryffindor hearing!”

A bit surprised from my flare of aggression, Fred nodded his head quickly and recoiled. George, who had been sitting next to me throughout dinner, now whispered in my ear, “We better get going if we want to have any light to practice in.”

I nodded my head and began to gather my things; “I’ll see you all later tonight,” I said to the group as I began to walk towards the doorway. George and I were nearly to the entrance hall when we heard footsteps gaining on us,

“Hey! WAIT FOR ME!” I turned to see Fred running full speed with a chicken leg in his hand. George grabbed my hand and we took off towards Gryffindor tower. Of course Fred would catch up to us eventually, but George and I were laughing so hard my side began to hurt as we ran. He didn’t let go of my hand until we were walking into the common room and I pulled away to go up to my dorm.

“I’m going to go change, and then I’ll be right back down,” I told him.

He grinned, “Sure you don’t need any help changing?”

I rolled my eyes and hit him in the arm before sprinting up the spiral stone steps to my dorm. Room 138 no longer had my name on it, just as George had predicted. The door opened and I raced to my wardrobe. I was throwing my uniform off as I looked through the drawers for some athletic gear. I pulled on a sports bra and some athletic shorts and stood at my wardrobe looking for a tank top when I heard a gasp.

I turned to see Fred standing in my doorway, his mouth ajar. “Evie! I didn’t realize you were such an exhibitionist,” he said with a wink. I had been rushing to get ready so quickly that I had forgotten to shut my door. _How long has he been standing there?_

“Fred! You ARE a pervert!” I yelled. Quickly grabbing my wand off my bed, “ _Locomotor Mortis!_ ”

“Hey what are you- OH FUCK! EVIE!” Fred shouted. The curse had bound his legs together, which caused him to fall over and start tumbling down the stairs. I grabbed the first tank top I could see, a red one, and put my sneakers on before running down the stairs.

I saw Fred rubbing his legs while George was snickering to himself. “Do you have to be so mean?” Fred asked.

George answered though, “You deserve it you pervert!”

Fred lunged at George and they started wrestling again. “Guys, don’t we have something else we should be doing?” I asked them. George popped up, shoving Fred down again as he tried to get up, and took off towards the portrait hole.

Once we made our way down to the quidditch pitch, George went to retrieve the brooms while Fred brought out a crate with four different sized balls. He explained each of them to me, and briefly showed me the golden snitch. He put that away quickly though, claiming that he doesn’t trust himself to not lose it.

“Now all you need to worry about is this quaffle. If you have it, you hold on to it for dear life and try to score through one of those three hoops. If you don’t think you have an opening to score, you pass it to either Angelina or Alicia- whichever one looks like the safest opening,” he explained to me.

“Well that seems easy enough,” I said, feeling a bit more confident about this game.

“Ah, you say that now,” said George as he emerged with three brooms, “just wait till you have three Slytherins trying to knock you off your broom and two bludgers being hit at your head. Rough game this is.”

“Oi! Where’d you get the third broom?” Fred asked George.

“It’s Ron’s. He brought it to school even though he doesn’t plan on trying out this year. Don’t tell him I took it,” he said.

Fred laughed while taking a broom from George’s hand, “Wouldn’t dream of it!”

George handed me a broom, which was apparently Ron’s, and we made our way to the center of the pitch. “Now,” George started, “Fred is going to play keeper right now and try to block your goals. I’m going to watch your form, and once you get the hang of it I’m going to try to steal the quaffle from you the way other chasers will. You ready?”

I took a deep breath, it had been years since I’d rode a broom. Shoving these fears down, I simply nodded and kicked off from the ground. The three of us rose high into the air, and I took a look around the landscape- everything looks so much prettier from up here.

“Give me a minute,” I told them, “I want to get used to flying again.” With that, I took off around the pitch. Ron’s broom was picking up speed every second, and the faster it got, the more confident I became. I jagged left, and then right, up, and then down, just to see how fast I could turn. I zoomed in between the stands, and then took a nosedive towards the ground- pulling up at the perfect last second. I returned to the middle where George and Fred were sitting on their brooms, and George high-fived me.

“You know,” Fred started, “If anything happens to Harry, I think you’d make a fantastic seeker. Now, let’s see if you have any talent as a chaser.” He shot me a wicked grin and zoomed off towards the goal posts.

“Just focus on scoring on him right now, don’t worry about having to fight me off just yet.” George said to me. He flew his broom a bit closer, where he was sure only I could hear him, “Fred’s a cocky player, so try to fool him as to which goal you’re aiming for.” He handed me the quaffle, and I sped off towards the goal.

Fred was sitting there with that grin still on his face, which only made me want to score on him more. I zoomed closer to the goal and positioned myself to score on the left goal. I saw Fred move towards that direction slightly, so I quickly launched the quaffle towards the right goal. Score.

Fred looked at me, and shook his head a bit, “Lucky shot. I’d love to see you try to score on me again.”

So I did. Of the ten goals I attempted, I made nine. To be fair, the one he had saved had only really been because he was taunting me and I threw it at his face. George yelled from across the way, “Either Fred is the shittiest keeper in the world, or you’re a natural chaser!”

Fred glared at me and then yelled back to George, “Would you help me out here! She’s only scoring cause she’s got no resistance!”

With that, George came zooming towards me. I took off, circling around a bit to try and shake him. He came up and rammed into the side of me, taking me by surprise. This, however, only emboldened me, so I took a nosedive again. Once again, I pulled up at the last second to head for the goal, only barely hearing an “oh shit” as I rose higher and higher. I shot towards the left goal and scored once again.

As Fred went to retrieve the quaffle, I looked around for George. I didn’t see him in the air, so I looked down and there he was lying on the ground. I flew down to the ground quickly and hopped off my broom, “George, are you okay?”

“Yeah,” he said in a strained voice, “I’m fine, I just wiped out trying to pull out of that nosedive and got the wind knocked out of me. I’ll be okay in a few minutes. I think you’ve had enough practice for today. I just know you’ll be incredible at tryouts on Saturday.”

Fred came down to the ground with the quaffle in hand and dismounted his broom, “Yeah, how do you like being out flown by the amateur? Not so great is it?”

“Fred, shut the fuck up,” George said, but we all began to laugh. Fred returned the brooms to the broomshed, and George and I began the climb back up to the castle.

“So…” he started, “I was thinking, uh, if you aren’t doing anything after tryouts on Saturday…”

He was interrupted as a figure approached us, walking out from the castle, “Evie, can I talk to you?” It was Draco Malfoy, of all people.

George instinctively pulled his wand out, “Anything you have to say to her you can say to me.” The look on his face looked as though he could kill.

“George, it’s fine. I can handle myself. I’ll see you back at the tower,” I told him.

George hesitated a moment, then dropped his wand. Without looking away from Draco he said, “Yeah, I’ll be waiting in your room.” He walked towards the castle doors without ever taking his eyes off Draco. Soon after, Fred had run up and gotten in his face before following behind George.

“Mind if we take a walk?” Draco asked.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, “Oh? Take a walk with the boy who tried to curse me today? On school grounds I’m completely unfamiliar with? Yeah, I’ll pass.”

He looked down and kicked the ground softly, “Will you at least take a walk with me around the castle? You know, where there are plenty of witnesses to make sure I don’t attack you again?”

“Oh, so you admit you attacked me? Not trying to keep your sob story going?” I stared straight into his eyes, but he broke away.

He let out a big sigh and muttered, “I’m sorry.”

“Yeah? Apology not accepted.” I started to make my way towards the castle, but he ran in front of me.

“Please,” he said with pleading eyes, “Let me explain.”

I scoffed, “What’s there to explain? You made it pretty clear earlier. You walk around thinking you’re better than everyone else because you have money and because you’re a ‘pureblood,’ but you know what I think? I think you’re a sad little boy whose parents only threw material things at instead of real love. And now you pick on everyone else because that’s the only way you feel anything other than the sadness in your lonely heart. You’re pathetic, and a waste of space.”

I shouldered him as I stormed into the castle, only looking back to see that he hadn’t moved and just stood there with his head hung. I didn’t care though; I hope he feels as hurt as he makes other people feel. He’s a bully and deserves what’s coming to him- even if I’m the delivery agent.

I climbed through the portrait hole to find the common room much quieter than I had expected. Looking around, I couldn’t see any of my friends anywhere. It seemed that the room was mostly filled with first and second years, but there were a few other groups of students scattered about. This works out perfectly because I wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone right now honestly.

 _Shit,_ I remembered, _George is in my room._ I’m just going to have to send him out immediately because I really don’t have the energy right now- I was still raging at Malfoy for having the audacity to try and speak to me after what he did today. How dare he think he’s entitled to any of my time at all! I marched up the stone steps, steaming in my anger.

I opened my door to find way too many pairs of eyes looking at me. Not only were George and Fred there, but all the students that had been missing from the common room were here as well.

“Um, can I help you all?” I asked, completely flabbergasted.

“Yeah, um, Evie? Remember earlier when you said you’d share the story about how you first apparated?” asked Lee from somewhere in the crowd. I literally couldn’t see where he was there were so many people in my room.

“Well,” he continued on, “I _may_ have told a couple people…”

“A couple people? Mate, we have nearly all of Gryffindor in here” Fred said with a laugh.

“And it was quite rude of you to do that Lee!” yelled Hermione from the loveseat, “I tried to get them to leave Evie, but they wouldn’t go.”

I sighed and took a deep breath in, “Look everyone, I’m exhausted and my patience is extremely thin. So in the nicest way possible, I’m asking that anyone I didn’t explicitly give permission to be here, to get the fuck out.”

A bulky athletic looking boy emerged from the crowd, “Just share the story with us and then we’ll leave, no need to be such a bitch about it.”

“I would watch yourself if I were you, McLaggen,” George said with a knowing look.

“Or what? She’s going to make my hair fall out too? No, I’m not leaving here until I get the damn story,” he roared.

“Fine,” I said walking up to him with a smile, “Have it your way then.” I reached forward and grabbed his arm- _crack!_ A second later, _crack!_ I was looking at my room again, only now I was soaking wet.

“Where’s McLaggen?” asked Dean Thomas.

“In the black lake,” I said coldly.

There was a collective gasp and silence that fell across the room. I looked around the room, “Anyone else want to join him? No? Then get out.” A stampede of people ran past me, and finally I was looking at the people I had said could be here.

“ _Exarcesco_ ” I said pointing my wand at myself, causing me to dry instantly. “Lee, if you ever do that again, it will be _you_ who goes into the black lake.” Lee took a big gulp and nodded his head.

Angelina bust out laughing, “Okay but that has got to be the best thing that anyone’s ever done to McLaggen- the guy is an absolute ass!”

I chuckled a little, and soon all nine of us were laughing uncontrollably. I felt the anger that I had towards Draco begin to fade, and I felt like being with friends was exactly what I needed right now. Feeling my clothes that I’d just been playing quidditch in, and then took a brief soak in the black lake, I felt disgusting.

“Not to be rude guys, but do you mind if I take a shower? I feel disgusting at the moment,” I asked, which was kind of strange considering it’s my room.

“Don’t worry about it,” said Fred, “George and I already showered, we know how you feel. I got snacks and cards, we’ll be entertained for a while.”

“Oh- oh you all are staying while I- uh, okay then I guess I’ll see you guys in a bit.” I grabbed some black silk pajamas from my wardrobe and then shut the door to the bathroom- making sure to lock it. I will not be having another incident like I did with Fred earlier. I heard some music come on and heard everyone laughing out there in my room, and I couldn’t help but smile thinking about the fact that I finally have real, magical friends. I have tons of magical friends that I talk to online in the States since that’s our only method of communication, but having people physically with you, especially ones where you could freely do magic, was extremely special to me.

I showered and put on my pajamas, then returned to my room to find them all sitting on the floor playing a drinking game. I joined the circle by sitting next to George and then watched as Fred was asking Hermione, “Truth, Dare, or Drink?”

“I still don’t understand the point of this game Fred,” she said.

“The point is, you either answer a question truthfully or take a dare, and if you refuse to do what you're asked then you have to take a shot of firewhiskey. Either way, by the end of the night you will be answering truthfully or doing one of my crazy dares,” he responded with a wink.

“Fine. Truth,” Hermione replied softly.

Fred laughed, “Have you ever hooked up with Ron or thought about hooking up with him?”

Both Hermione and Ron turned pink and scooted away from each other. Hermione picked up the shot glass and threw back the firewhiskey, cringing as it went down.

“Ooh, tough break little brother. She’d rather be drunk than have to think about being with you!” George said, reaching across the circle to shove Ron in the shoulder.

“On a school night too! She must really not want to answer!” added Lee.

Hermione looked pissed, “Can we just focus on the reason we even came here in the first place, to hear Evie’s story?”

All eyes turned to me, anticipating a grand tale of how I first apparated. The tale wasn’t grand at all, and it’s something I didn’t enjoy talking about honestly.

“Mind if I?” I asked motioning to the liquor.

Fred nodded, “Be my guest.”

Instead of reaching for the already poured shots, I reached for the entire bottle of firewhiskey and took a massive chug. Right as I was about to start, I figured I better take another for the confidence.

“Woah there, easy!” Fred said, taking the bottle from me. “That’s going to make for a rough time waking up in the morning.”

“I’m sorry,” I started, “It’s just, I feel like you’re all expecting some cool story about my first time apparating. Something about how my father taught me a secret that made it that much easier, but it wasn’t anything like that. I’ve never told anyone this story, so forgive me for needing a little pick-me-up.”

They all sat silently staring at me; even Fred seemed to be serious in this moment. “Okay, here it goes,” and I began:

“My father didn’t raise me with magic. Even before my mother passed, neither of them used magic in the house- at least not around me. My father said it was easier that way because of the MACUSA’s strict laws, and without any knowledge of magic, I was able to attend school with no-majs.”

“Wait,” Ron interrupted, “You went to school with muggles? How was that?”

Hermione smacked his arm, “Honestly Ron, it’s as if you paid no attention to when Harry or I talked about going to school with muggles. Just listen to her story and don’t interrupt!”

“Right,” I continued, “Anyways, my mother passed when I was going into the first grade, so obviously grieving was difficult, but the thing is that the no-maj kids treated me differently from the start. It’s almost like they knew something I didn’t because from my very first day at school, I struggled to make friends.”

“So for five years I went to elementary school with no-majs, completely unaware of my power. I had never shown a single sign of magic, and my father even told me he thought I could be a squib. Then, one day in fifth grade, everything changed. Throughout my time in school, I had always been bullied relentlessly. It’s like I said, it’s like children can smell ‘different’ and they attack whatever is different from them. I thought it was just because I had experienced a great loss, but that wasn’t it at all.”

“One day, not long after my 11th birthday, the kids were doing what they normally did, which was tormenting me on the playground. We were out on the field that day, so there was less teacher supervision. The kids had me cornered against a fence, and they were taunting me: ‘Freak!’ ‘Weirdo!’ they’d say, ‘Nobody wants you here!’ ‘We’d all be better off without you!’”

“One boy got in my face, saying ‘you should just disappear! Nobody wants to look at your ugly face, go on, disappear!’ In that moment, all I could think about was how badly I wanted to be in my bed, how I just wanted to curl up and cry. I kept thinking about it, and thinking about it, until I felt like my whole body was being crammed through a tight space. Next thing I knew, I was sitting on my bed.”

“My father came running upstairs and found me there. When I explained to him what happened, he was both extremely proud, but also scared. Within five minutes, there was a knock on our door: it was people from the MACUSA. They sat us down, and my father explained the situation to them over and over again. He was pleading with them, trying to convince them that I didn’t know any better. Finally, they believed him, but warned that another incident would result in arrest.”

“They passed a law after that preventing any children with magical parents from attending school with no-majs, even if they were suspected squibs. They had to obliviate so many children and teachers because of my incident, so it was no surprise when that law came. After that, my father dedicated all his time to teaching me. Apparition was the first thing I studied, and mastered, as it was what came most natural to me. I guess after all these years; just being able to visualize a place clearly is enough to get me there- no matter the distance. Even if I only have seen it in a book or on tv, I can go wherever as long as I’ve seen it.”

I finished the story and finally looked up. I had told the entire story looking down at the ground because it was so embarrassing to me- I couldn’t bear to look at their faces. The reason was because, as I expected, they looked absolutely gobsmacked. A minute passed before anyone said anything, but the first to speak was Fred who just said, “Here,” as he handed me the bottle of firewhiskey, “you definitely need this more than I do.”


	12. This Can't Be Happening

No one asked any questions about my apparition story- I think they could tell I had been deeply uncomfortable recounting it. Instead, we resumed Fred’s drinking game and found ourselves laughing for hours. Before I knew it, Hermione looked down at her watch and jumped up, saying that it was after midnight.

“Oh don’t be a buzz kill Granger! We can go for a few more rounds!” Fred shouted loudly. I noticed that the more he drank, the louder he got. He also, for some reason, had taken off his shirt saying that he ‘needed to be free.’

“It’s already going to be hell trying to wake up with the headache I’m sure to have thanks to your stupid firewhiskey! And us third years have the rest of our classes tomorrow, so we need to focus! Now, goodnight!” Hermione walked towards the door but kind of stumbled towards the wall and tried to balance herself.

Ron immediately leapt up to help her and lead her to the door, “Here, I’ll help you with the stairs.”

Fred started to whistle and yelled, “Yeah, get it little brother!”

Ron turned around and made a face at Fred. Harry hopped up as well, “I’m going to make sure Ron doesn’t let her fall down the stairs, goodnight everyone.”

Fred pouted a bit, “At this rate, Ronald is going to be a virgin forever.”

George shoved him over, “Yeah, well at least he’s not trying to make a move on a woman who’s intoxicated.”

Fred just laid on the ground and gasped, “Gred Weasley, you know I ALWAYS get consent! I would never, I’m only messing around of course!”

Alicia rolled her eyes, “Alright then _Forge_ it’s time for bed, come on. Up you go.”

Angelina and her tried to help him up but he was unmoving. Lee rolled his eyes, “Every single time, all right goodnight. We’re going to go drop this one off and make sure he doesn’t catch anything on fire this time.”

The three of them hoisted Fred up who laughed and slurred, “Hey, no promises, fire is so beautiful!”

They stumbled out of the room, and I began to gather the shot glasses off the floor and put the nearly empty bottle of firewhiskey on my bedside table. The door shut and I realized George and I were alone- my heart began to race. I grabbed the bottle of firewhiskey and downed what remained for some confidence.

“So… what did Malfoy want earlier?” he asked.

Oh, I had almost forgotten about that. I felt warm and happy from the firewhiskey, and the last thing I wanted to think about was that cold and sad boy. George, however, looked genuinely interested.

I sat down on my bed, “Oh, uh, nothing really. He wanted to take a walk to explain himself, but I didn’t give him the time of day. He did say he was sorry though.”

George stared at me from where he stood by the fire, “Wait- Draco Malfoy apologized? What could that little bastard be getting at?”

“What do you mean?” I asked him.

He walked towards me but was looking around the room, as if he was searching for an answer, “I bet he’s going to try something. Malfoy has never apologized for anything in his entire life, so the only reason he would now is if he wants something.”

I looked down, trying to rack my brain, “What on earth could he possibly want from me?”

George looked to be doing the same, “I don’t know, but I don’t trust him. Stay on high alert just in case he tries to attack you again.”

Not wanting to continue talking about him, and feeling a bit more confident from the firewhiskey, I patted the spot next to me on my bed, “You can come sit if you want.”

His eyes popped out of his head and he went red, “Uh, yeah sure, okay.” He came and sat down on the edge of the bed next to me, but refused to make eye contact.

I scoot myself a little closer to him and put my hand on his arm- I could feel his muscles through his baseball tee. “So,” I started in my most flirtatious voice, “What were you going to ask me earlier before Malfoy interrupted?”

George let out a nervous chuckle and eyed my hand on his arm, “Oh- erm, it was nothing really. I- I- I just was thinking, you know if you aren’t busy, that maybe, uh, you know, maybe you’d want to go to Hogsmeade after tryouts on Saturday?”

I smiled and sat up a little straighter, “Ooh sounds fun! What’s Hogsmeade though?”

He finally looked me in the eyes and smiled, “What’s Hogsmeade? It’s the only all-wizard village in all of the UK! It’s wicked cool with a sweets shop called Honeydukes, Madam Puddifoot’s Tea Shop, a pub called the Three Broomsticks, and lots of other shops too! Fred and I’s favorite though is a joke shop called Zonko’s, though we reckon we could make products that are loads better than theirs.”

He lit up as he was talking, and it was absolutely adorable. It’s like he had fire in his eyes- fire that made me feel warm, safe, and comfortable. It was something I saw in his eyes just last night when he found me crying in the courtyard, and something I saw again when I had cursed Draco. I may have really only known him for a day, but it felt like I’d known him for years; as if we were old friends just simply reconnecting. The connection with him was instantaneous, and every second I spent with him I just wanted to be closer and closer to him.

Feeling bold, I put my hand on his thigh, feeling the softness of his black joggers, “Well I would love to go to Hogsmeade with you on Saturday.” He looked at my hand, and then to me nervously. This was the perfect moment- the fire was roaring and I felt more confident than ever before. I stared at his lips and began to lean in, but he turned away.

“Evie… I’m sorry I can’t.” He said without looking at me.

My heart fell into the pit of my stomach. I recoiled and moved far away from him, absolutely mortified. “I’m sorry… I just thought- uh, you know… there’s somebody else isn’t there?” I asked him, staring at me knees that I had pulled to my chest.

He snapped his head up and looked at me, moving closer as he spoke, “Somebody else? Merlin, no! I just- I want to, believe me I do. Just- you’ve had quite a lot to drink tonight and I don’t feel comfortable with it happening like this. I’d feel like I’m taking advantage of you if we kissed right now, so I want to make sure you’re in your right mind if it ever does happen. I promise you, I want to.”

I dropped my legs from my chest, and he pulled them over his lap, placing his hand on my thigh as he spoke again, “Let’s revisit this when we haven’t drank at least half a bottle of firewhiskey?”

I couldn’t help but laugh and blush. He was laughing too, and for a minute we just enjoyed being there with each other- knowing our intentions, but respecting that this wasn’t the right moment. It made my heart melt that he was so concerned and respectful about consent. I knew that I’d want to kiss him whether I was drunk or not, but his concern about it was the sweetest thing.

“Do you want to stay tonight? This is a lot of bed for just one person.” I asked, though I was pretty sure I knew the answer.

“Not tonight, darling. I would love to some other time,” he said as he stood up from my bed. “Now, get some rest, I’m sure it will be quite difficult to get up for class in the morning.” He leaned down and kissed my forehead before walking towards the door, turning back for a moment to say, “sweet dreams beautiful,” before closing the door behind him.

I fell back on my bed and stared up to the ceiling with the biggest smile on my face. _Darling_ he had called me. _Beautiful, he thinks I’m beautiful._ My head was racing again as it had the night before, only now I noticed the room was starting to spin. _He’s right; I did have too much to drink_. I crawled up and plopped my head on the fluffy white pillows, kicking my legs like a child just trying to get under the covers. It wasn’t long till I was off to sleep, thinking only about how badly I wanted to kiss George.

I was running through a stone corridor, giggling as I ran. “You’re going to have to catch me!” I yelled. I could hear footsteps behind me, and a boy’s laugh. I was looking for a place to go, so I went left and ran out into a courtyard.

“You’ll never catch me at that pace!” I teased.

I was running across the wooden bridge and onto the grass, but then dodged left and ran towards the green hills. I could hear the boy’s laughter getting closer behind me. Just as I made it to the top of one hill, I felt arms wrap around my waist and pull me to the ground. Suddenly we were rolling down the hill together, still laughing like young school children.

We finally stopped rolling and I was laughing so hard no noise was coming out. I felt lips press against mine, and I wrapped my arms around him and ran my fingers through his hair- I never wanted this kiss to end. I felt his lips pull away and finally opened my eyes, expecting to see that redhead’s big, goofy grin. Instead, I was staring up at a pale, blonde boy who was smiling down at me.

I jerked violently and shot up in my bed, breathing heavily. _It was only a dream_ , I reassured myself. _Why am I dreaming about kissing Draco Malfoy though?_ My heart was pounding, I was struggling to breathe, and I had no answers for why I would have a dream like that about the boy who tried to attack me.

I looked around trying to find the time, but remembered that I still didn’t have a clock or watch anywhere. I reached over and grabbed my cell phone, which I had forgotten about until this very moment. It was 6:30 am, so I could sleep for another hour, but I was scared to go back to sleep after that dream. Instead, I decided to take a long shot and text my father. It would be 1:30 am his time, but there could be a chance he’s awake- he was known for being a night owl. I sent him a picture of the loveseat and fire, which was starting to dwindle, and just asked, “Are you awake?”

I swiped out of the texts and opened up the app ‘WizChat’ to check messages from my magical friends in the States. I had a few unread ‘good luck!’ and ‘miss you already!’ from the day I left, but those were just from some acquaintances. What I really cared about was the unread message I had from my best friend.

When I was 15, my father had gotten me a phone so I could start making magical friends online. Since there isn’t a school for witches and wizards in the States, my only method of communicating is through the apps designed by the MACUSA- the ones that no-majs can’t find. On WizChat, there are all kinds of forums about different magical topics for people to comment and meet on. One day I was on one forum that was just full of teenagers slamming the MACUSA for their stupid laws that keep us from having the normal wizarding experiences that people in other countries have, and someone commented, “All in favor of committing arson on the MACUSA hit me up.”

I messaged them saying I was definitely down to join in, and that’s how I met my best friend Alex. Funny thing is, the next day MACUSA aurors showed up at her house to interrogate her over her ‘terrorist behavior online’ and it took 6 hours to convince them it was a joke. We video chatted that night and laughed about it for hours, and ever since then we’ve video chat almost every single night for about five years now. These past two nights are the first time in months that we haven’t talked, and I was missing her a lot.

I opened her message, which just read, “you bitch, you go to some fancy university and now you can’t even bother to message me back? the nerve. anyways, i miss you and love you lots, can’t wait till we can video chat again!” I chuckled and messaged her back, “so sorry, it’s been crazy from the second i got here. talk tonight? only problem is midnight my time is 4 pm your time. let me know what would work for you, love you!”

Just then I heard a _crack_ and looked over to the fireplace to see my father sitting in one of the red chairs. “Ah,” he said looking around, “looks just the same as when I was in school, except they removed my fireplace after James, Sirius, and I almost caught the entire tower on fire.”

“That sounds like something you would do,” I chuckled, getting out of bed and going to hug him, “Hey Dad, what are you doing up?”

“Oh you know me, I was just up getting some work done when I got your text. Figured I’d just come pop in since I hate talking over the phone.” Father truly believes the MACUSA listens to all of our phone calls, and honestly with their track record of knowing just about everything, I wouldn’t be shocked to find out that was true.

I sat down on the loveseat, “So, I need your help…”

“Ooh!” his face lit up, “Is this about the Weasley boy? You know I saw it in both your faces the other night-“

“Dad! No!” My hands covered my face, trying to hide my embarrassment that he’d even ask that, “It is NOT about a boy and if I WERE having boy problems I would NOT be asking you for advice!”

He shrugged, “Alright, fair enough. I guess you’re too embarrassed of dear old dad.”

“When it comes to my love life, I’m absolutely embarrassed and will never be involving you.” I laughed, feeling the redness start to drain from my face, “Actually, I was going to ask for your help with getting a broom. I’m trying out for the quidditch team on Saturday and I don’t have a broom to try out with.”

He jumped up and picked me up off the loveseat, “Yes! My girl is going out for quidditch! This is a dream come true! What position are you going out for?”

“Chaser,” I replied, “I went out on the pitch with the Weasley twins last night to practice some and they said I’m a natural. I scored ten out of eleven goals, and even caused George to wipe out while he was trying to take the quaffle from me!”

He clapped his hands together and looked happier than I had seen him in a long time, “You definitely take after me on the sports side. Your mother wasn’t a big fan of quodpot, but you and I both know that quidditch is way better than quodpot! What broom were you practicing on then?”

“Oh, I was on their younger brother’s. I think they said it was a ‘Shooting Star’? I’m not sure what any of it means.” I told him.

“A Shooting Star? Oh no, no, no, that broom is ancient. If you were playing that well on one of those, I can’t wait to see how you’d do on a really good broom,” he said to me, “Let me do some research, when are tryouts?”

“Saturday morning” I replied.

“Brilliant, I’ll be back with a broom for you by Friday. I’m so proud of you honey! Following in my footsteps!” He hugged me again, “Was there anything else you wanted to talk about?”

I thought for a minute to tell him about the incident with Draco, or maybe I should ask him about the dream I had? Not wanting to ruin how happy he was in this moment though I just replied, “Nope,” and enjoyed seeing my father smile so much. Now I was even more determined to make the team so my father and I would have something else to bond over- something that made him extremely happy.

We chatted for a bit longer about classes and such; he was absolutely floored to hear I loved Professor Lupin’s class so much. He said he was getting sleepy and should head home before he accidentally apparated into the wrong bedroom, so we said our goodbyes and he was off. It was 7:30 at this point, so I just went to the bathroom to go ahead and get ready for the day.

As soon as I had pulled on my robes, there was a knock at my door. I walked over to find a very groggy looking Hermione standing there. Her eyes widened with shock that I had actually answered the door.

“Morning. I didn’t expect you to actually be awake considering how much you drank,” she said with a scratchy voice.

I chuckled as I grabbed my tiny backpack, “I could say the same to you. You avoided every question by drinking! I’ve been up for about an hour though.”

We began to make our way down to the common room, “An hour? Why in the world have you been up for an hour?”

I stammered a bit, vivid flashbacks of the dream rushing back to me, “Uh, uh, no reason. I just had a bad dream that’s all.”

We had made it down into the common room where, once again, Harry and Ron were already sitting; only this time they both had their head in their hands. Ron mumbled as we entered, “I’m never drinking with Fred again.”

Hermione rolled her eyes, “You say that every time Ronald, yet here we are.”

Harry lifted his head up, “Did you say you had a bad dream, Evie? I get those all the time except mine are usually about Voldemort killing my parents, what was yours about?”

Ron threw one of the pillows from the chair at Harry, “Don’t say his name dumbass!”

Trying to cover up so I wouldn’t have to share the embarrassing dream I’d had, I just said, “Oh- uh yeah, basically same. You know, just finding my mother dead again. The usual.”

Harry put his hand on my shoulder, “I’m sorry, but at least we have each other. No one understands better than I do.”

“Thanks, Harry” I was still conflicted about telling Harry what I knew about Sirius Black, and how we used to play together when we were very young. Seeing as he already seemed to be dealing with enough though, I bit my tongue and didn’t say a word.

We trudged our way down the stairs and into the Great Hall for breakfast, being among the first to arrive again. About thirty minutes later, Angelina, Alicia, Lee, Fred, and George all walked in sluggishly, looking just about as bad as we did. Somehow, Fred still had endless energy, which made me want to throw a quaffle at his face again.

Lee had sat down next to me before George had the chance, so there were only some moments where one of us would catch the other staring and then we’d both look away rapidly. _I hope it’s not awkward between us after last night… I wonder if he even remembers?_

“Uh oh Evie,” Fred laughed, “I think you have yourself an admirer now.” He pointed behind me.

I turned around to see that Draco Malfoy was staring at me again from across the room. I rolled my eyes and turned back around to my bowl of cereal that I had barely touched. Was I not clear enough for him last night? He needs to stop staring at me before I fire a curse that makes him go blind.

Breakfast finished up and we all grumbled our goodbyes as we headed for our first lesson: Ancient Runes. Harry, Ron, and I struggled to stay awake, but Hermione was on the edge of her seat absolutely fascinated by the subject. She scolded us for not paying attention, but honestly the headache I had was taking priority. The next class wasn’t much better as it was Ancient Studies, which Ron said reminded him way too much of History of Magic. I found it interesting as we were discussing ancient spells and ancient magic, but I’m not sure if I’d pick this for even a sub-concentration.

Next we had Alchemy, which made all of us perk up a bit. Harry told me that in his first year, he had held in his hand the greatest feat of alchemy ever made: the Sorcerer’s Stone. It produced this elixir that could cause someone to live forever, but apparently it had been destroyed. In order to take this class, even as a sub-concentration, a few more years of Potions and Transfiguration was required, but it seemed like something to consider with how many possibilities this subject provided.

Finally, our last class before lunch was Arithmancy. I thought I was going to hate this class because I hated math when I was in school, but this subject was absolutely intriguing. It was like solving a puzzle, but with numbers. The teacher said it was a necessary subject for people who wanted to be curse-breakers, and I loved the sound of that profession. I had a bad taste for aurors because of my experiences with the MACUSA, but a curse-breaker sounds badass.

After the lesson finished, we made our way back to the Great Hall for lunch. Hermione and I couldn’t stop raving about the class, but Harry and Ron only groaned that they were going to have a difficult time no matter what classes they chose. Lunch flew by quickly, and Professor McGonagall came by to give us our meeting times with her to choose our concentrations, or at least narrow them down. I was still lost without a clue as to what would benefit me most, but of course I was the first to have a meeting.

“See you in the common room Evie!” Hermione called out to me as I followed Professor McGonagall to her classroom.

“Miss Goddard,” She said as she sat down behind her desk, flicking her wand so a paper came forth from a giant pile, “Any ideas on what you might like to take?”

“Well, Professor, the problem is that I’m not sure what I want to do after school. I’ve never put thought into a profession. In the States, the only options are working at the MACUSA, and they always pick the department for you. Now, it seems like I have more options.” This all kind of spilled out of me, I hadn’t even thought about the differences between the job opportunities until this very moment. I always figured I’d be a secretary or something for a department at the MACUSA, but I never dreamed of actually having a choice in my profession.

“I see,” she said, “Well, I hear you’re already very gifted in Apparition, so we’ll cross that off the list.” There was a bit of sarcasm in her voice that made me think she wasn’t entirely pleased about what I had done to Draco yesterday.

“We can cross off Care for Magical Creatures, Herbology, Muggle Studies, and Divination as well,” I said, causing her to glance up from the paper with a raised eyebrow, “the professors are great, but I don’t really see myself studying them long-term.”

“Is there anything you _do_ like?” she asked.

“Well… I did really enjoy Defense Against the Dark Arts, and my father really wants me to make that my concentration, but I also am extremely fascinated by Arithmancy,” I told her.

She paused for a moment, “Have you thought about a double concentration? You could make them both your major area of focus.”

“What career is that useful for though? It also sounds like a lot of hard work.” I wasn’t trying to drown myself in schoolwork if I was going to be on the quidditch team as well.

“It is hard work, Miss Goddard. You will find that every subject here is hard work, but the results are worth it. Might I suggest looking into a career in curse-breaking? Both of those subjects are vital for it.” She said while folding her hands on my paper. It seemed like the most logical choice, and I had been extremely interested in what being a curse-breaker was like when we discussed it in Arithmancy.

“Okay,” I replied, “I’ll make those my two concentrations. Could I make Transfiguration and Alchemy my two sub-concentrations?”

She smiled now, “Those are two sub-concentrations that would be great if you plan to be a curse-breaker. I would love to have you in my Transfiguration class. You will need it for Alchemy anyways, so that would be a good start, but you’ll have to take Potions from your third to fifth year with Professor Snape as well.”

I groaned, “and there’s no way around that? I don’t think it’s in anyone’s best interest for Snape and I to be in a class together.”

“I’m afraid not Miss Goddard. Either you will take Potions as part of your Alchemy studies, or you’ll need to pick another sub-concentration. Might I suggest Ancient Studies? That’s a good subject for curse-breaking as well.” I could tell she felt bad about it given the public display Snape and I had in the Great Hall yesterday, but I knew her hands were tied.

I remembered that Harry and Ron were going to have to take it as well even though they hated Snape, so I decided to suck it up, “Alright, I’ll take Alchemy and suffer through Snape for two years. Thank you for your help Professor McGonagall.”

She smiled, “You’ll do fantastic, Miss Goddard. Let me know if you ever need any help.” She handed me a paper with my new class schedule and I walked out the door.

Hermione was waiting anxiously outside the door, “Did you pick already? Merlin, I have no idea what I’m going to do! I want to take too many classes! Wish me luck!” and then she walked into the classroom.

I checked out my new schedule and it was crazy. 3 hours of Arithmancy on Monday and Wednesday mornings, and 3 hours of Defense Against the Dark Arts in the afternoons. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I had an hour and a half of Transfigurations and an hour and a half of Potions in the morning, but then just 45 minutes of Alchemy after lunch. The rest of those days were a study hall, which would be extremely helpful with the amount of work I was sure to have. The best part though; I have no classes at all on Fridays.

I decided to wander around the castle and explore since I hadn’t had much of a chance thus far. Considering it was class time for everyone except the third years, the halls were completely empty. The more I walked these beautiful stone halls, the more I was sure I would get extremely lost if I didn’t pay attention to where I had come from. Eventually I found myself in this corridor with archways that opened up into a courtyard.

As I walked down this corridor, I suddenly went numb: _this is the corridor I saw in my dream._ I turned around and walked quickly to escape the flashbacks that were coming to me now. I turned right instead of turning left as I had in my dream and found myself heading down some stairs. It was getting colder, and I knew I was heading for the dungeon.

I walked down the hall, looking for the steps I had gone up from Snape’s class. If I could find those steps, I could find my way back to Gryffindor tower. The only problem was I had no idea where I was and everything looked entirely unfamiliar.

“What are you doing down here?” A voice called behind me.

 _No, please, anyone but him._ I turned, and there was Draco Malfoy staring at me curiously.

I quickly turned my back to him and kept walking, “None of your business.”

“If you’re trying to get back to Gryffindor tower,” he called out, “you’re going the wrong way.”

 _Dammit, I don’t want to have to ask him for help._ “Oh really? How do I know you’re not just lying to me?”

He sighed, looked up at the ceiling, and then back to me, “Will you please just let me help you?”

I pulled my wand out of my robe and walked towards him, “Fine, but if you try to attack me again, I’ll put you in the hospital wing for a month,” I said, pressing my wand into his neck.

He stared down at me, not struggling to make eye contact this time, “I won’t attack you.”

There was something about the way he was looking at me that made me pause. It wasn’t a death glare, but it seemed dominant in an attractive sort of way. I had to break eye contact this time, and I stuffed my wand back into my robe.

He started walking back the way I had originally come, “So… did you pick your classes?”

I rolled my eyes, “Small talk? Really? Like you care.”

He muttered, “I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t care.”

I stopped and looked at him, “And why would you care?”

He stopped, looked around, and then grabbed me by the arm. He pulled me into a closet, and I quickly pulled out my wand and had it pointed at his face when he pulled his out saying, “ _Lumos._ ”

“Look,” he said, staring only into my eyes as if my wand wasn’t threatening to blow off his face at the moment, “I’m sorry about yesterday, okay? I was out of line.” I put my wand closer to his face and he raised his hands in the air, “Okay! I’m always out of line! And you were right last night! I’m a bully because of my own pain, okay? I’ve never admitted that to anyone before.”

I lowered my wand a bit and backed off, “So why the fuck are you telling me?”

“I don’t know!” he yelled, “All I know is no one has ever stood up to me before, and no one has ever called me on my shit before. Then you did it and I- I just-“

“What?” I yelled back, “Spit it out!”

He moved my wand out of the way and pushed me up against the wall, cupping my face in his hand, slamming his cold lips against mine. I was so shocked I dropped my wand. I didn’t know what to do, it was like everything in me completely froze. After a few seconds I shoved him off of me.

“I can’t stop thinking about you,” he said softly.

I didn’t know what to say, I didn’t know what to think, I didn’t know what to feel, so I followed my knee jerk reaction: I slapped him across the face. I picked my wand up off the floor and ran out of that closet. I ran down the corridor, not having a clue where I was going, but not caring one bit. This _can’t_ be happening.


	13. Decisions

My heart was pounding so hard I thought it might explode, my head was throbbing with pain, and my lungs felt like they had been crushed. I was having an anxiety attack, but at the same time I couldn’t stop running. Maybe it’s because I wanted to physically feel the pain I was feeling emotionally, or maybe it’s because I thought running would help me escape what just happened.

 _Draco Malfoy just kissed me._ That can’t be right- there’s no way that just happened. Any minute now I would wake up in my bed just as I had this morning, and this will all just be a bad dream. The crushing pain in my chest, however, reminded me that all of this was actually happening.

I didn’t know where I was going. I had finally made it out of the dungeon, but I’d never been to this part of the castle. I began to feel frantic, which only made my throat constrict more. I was swinging my head from side to side, trying to find something that looked familiar, and just desperately wanting to get back to my room. I wasn’t paying any attention at all to what was in front of me until I ran directly in to someone.

“Oh, hey, sorry about that- Evie?” I looked up, and just confirming that I have the worst luck in the world; it was George.

I became extremely overwhelmed and couldn’t help it; I fell to the ground and burst into tears.

“Hey, hey, hey, what’s the matter?” he asked softly as he crouched down to my level.

“Why are you out here? Don’t you have class right now?” I couldn’t look at him. He was the absolute last person I wanted to see right now.

“Well, yeah I do,” he started, kind of chuckling at himself, “but I think my time is much better spent roaming about the castle. Wouldn’t you agree?”

He had mentioned that studying wasn’t his strong suit, so this explains a lot, “Just leave me alone George, I’ll be fine.” I was still hiding my face because I knew looking at him would only make me cry more.

“Evie,” he moved my hair out of my face, gently caressing my cheek so I would look at him, “tell me what’s wrong.”

This was all too much- the tears were welling up in my eyes again. I pushed myself away from him and took off down the corridor. He didn’t try to chase me, which I was extremely grateful for, because once I felt I had run far enough I collapsed to the floor again and sobbed so hard that no noise came out.

How is it in less than twenty-four hours I’d gone from the happiest girl in the world who almost kissed George, to being this emotional wreck over being kissed by the guy who had tried to curse me? _I like George,_ I reassured myself, _so why am I thinking about Draco?_ It’s just the shock of it all. George is everything I’ve ever dreamed about in a guy: he’s funny, charming, so handsome, respectful, and just lights up a room wherever he goes. Draco is just annoying, privileged, and a bully. He has a false perception of me because I’m the only person who’s ever stood up to him.

The more I thought about it, the more I was highly considering murdering Draco. _Why did he have to go and do that?_ I was perfectly happy with how things were going so far and now he throws this curveball? _‘I can’t stop thinking about you’ what a load of bullshit._ I bet he’s just had every girl he’s wanted just fall all over him and now that one hasn’t he’s pissed off. George did say that Draco would only apologize cause he wanted something, but I didn’t ever think it was _me_ that he wanted.

Feeling more mad than upset now, I took a deep breath and decided to try to find my way back to the tower now. After a few minutes of wandering, I found myself staring at the moving stairs and made my way up.

“Fortuna major,” I told the Fat Lady, extremely relieved to have finally made it back.

“Finally settle on a concentration dear? Apparition like your father I suspect?” the Fat Lady asked me. I wasn’t really in the mood to talk to anyone right now, but I figured it best not to anger the person who provides me access to my room.

I took a deep breath and forced a fake smile, “No, actually, I’m already pretty decent with Apparition, so I chose Defense Against the Dark Arts and Arithmancy.”

“Ooh” she said with an excited voice, “how _studious!_ Much more than your father. He, of course as you know, was a double concentration as well, but you would have never been able to tell with how much he snuck out. I assume you’ll be too busy with your studies to sneak out?”

“That’s the plan, wouldn’t want to interrupt your beauty sleep,” I said through the gritted teeth of this painful smile.

“Finally! Someone who understands my needs! Well have a wonderful afternoon darling,” and she opened the portrait hole, talking to herself about how considerate and respectful I was compared to some.

I walked through the common room and headed straight for the stairs, but just before I made it I heard, “Evie! There you are, we were wondering where you could have gone off to since you were the first meeting. Come, tell us all about it!” It was Hermione. Her, Harry, and Ron had taken up their spots at the couch in front of the fire as they had the first night.

I took a few steps towards them, but kept my distance, “Oh, um, actually guys I need to go call my friend in the States. We haven’t talked in a few days, and I promised her I’d let her know what classes I would be taking once I knew so… I’ll be down in a little bit!”

Before anyone could say anything, I bolted up the stairs. Finally I reached room 138 and shut the door behind me as quickly as possible. I hit the button for the protective enchantment for the first time since I had been here- I didn’t want anyone coming in here right now. I had lied about the call with my best friend, but that actually might not be a bad idea. The only problem was the time difference: it’d be about 6 am in California right now. Feeling desperate and like I had no one to talk to though, I decided to take my chances.

 _Please, pick up,_ I thought as I hit the video chat feature on Wizchat. It rang, and rang, and I was sure that she wouldn’t wake up from her sleep, but suddenly I heard a groan and my heart leapt.

“You better have a good fucking reason for waking me up at this ungodly hour,” she said to me from a pitch-black room.

“You don’t believe in god, and I do have a really good reason: a boy kissed me.”

Suddenly a light turned on and she sat up, “Okay I’m listening.”

I spilled to her every single detail of what had been happening since I arrived: the truth about my father, George being there for me, Malfoy trying to curse me, learning quidditch, almost kissing George, and then being kissed by Draco today.

“All of that has happened in the two days you’ve been there?” she asked when I finished my story, “Damn, I need to go to this university. Life has been so boring since you left since we don’t talk all the time anymore.”

I laughed, “I wish you could come here, I need you now more than ever. If only one of your parents had come here.”

She rolled her eyes, “Maybe my parents can bribe someone to let me come- it’d be the one and only good thing they’ve ever done with their money. God, I hate it here.”

“Alex, please help me. What do I do?” I begged her.

“What do you do?” now she was laughing, “Evie, in all the years I’ve known you, you’re usually the one telling me what to do while I’m the one advocating for violence. This seems easy though; you focus on George and forget about that prick Draco- he seems toxic anyways. And toxicity is my type, wholesome is yours.”

She had a point. Alex’s parents were among the wealthiest in the States, and not to mention were considered one of the last real pureblooded lines in the U.S. as well. Because the segregation between wizards and no-majs came in 1790, there were many wizards/witches who already had families with no-majs at that point. Not to mention, the U.S. seemed to have a very high population of magical children born to non-magical parents. The MACUSA has a department entirely dedicated to finding these children and bringing them to work for them so they may be introduced to magical society. These children go on to marry other wizards or witches of course, but that leaves next to no true purebloods in the States. The MACUSA will always say that they’re proud of the ‘melting pot that is the United States’, but the truth is, they were practically in the pockets of Alex’s family.

Her family had emigrated to the U.S. about a century prior from Asia, the Philippines to be exact, because they saw a lot of opportunity in the underdeveloped magical society in the States. They helped design the MACUSA’s headquarters in the Woolworth building in New York, so they were well connected to the very top. Alex had met the President countless times, and she said he was as horrendous in person as he reads on paper. Her family had a rather horrible tradition about having arranged marriages in order to maintain the family’s purity, but Alex had sworn to break this tradition to spite her parents.

The problem, however, had come when her parents had set her up on countless dates with pureblood boys from other countries, and she found all of them to be extremely toxic. They were always wealthy and felt they were better than everyone else because of their blood status, which always lead to a fiery exchange that she said was the biggest turn on.

“Violence is my love language,” she would always say. Personally, I had never understood the attraction, but as I was thinking about all of this right then it hit me.

“You know, I think Draco would be your perfect type.” I told her.

She rolled her eyes again, “Another toxic pureblood boy? You’re right, but like, why can’t I have a toxic boy born from a no-maj? I just want to scare my parents so badly they have a heart attack- is that too much to ask?”

I couldn’t help but laugh my ass off at this, “Well apparently yes, according to your track record so far. Anyways, I should probably go. Dinner is in about an hour and I promised my friends I’d tell them about the classes I chose.”

“Hey!” she shouted, “You better not go make a new best friend. You have one of those already.”

“Don’t you worry, just try to find a way to come join me here would ya?” I reminded her.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll see what kind of finesse I can pull on my parents. They do know a lot of Hogwarts alumni if I remember correctly. Love you loser, try not to cause anymore drama so I won’t be woken up at the ass crack of dawn again,” she turned her light off and hung up the phone. I dreamed for a second about how wonderful it would be to have my best friend here with me. We had always said we would move to New York together when it was time to go work for the MACUSA, but the thought of us living together in a freer magical society was even better.

I put my phone back on the bedside table and headed for the door. Alex was right, George is who I should focus on, and any thought of Draco needs to leave my mind. I would just avoid Draco at all costs and he would get the memo. Based on the way George and I were getting closer, it wouldn’t be long before I was with him anyways and there would be nothing Draco could do to stop it.

I walked into the common room almost skipping with how much joy I had now.

“At least somebody’s having a good day,” Ron grumbled as I came to join them by the fire.

“Oh grow up Ron,” Hermione said, “You’re going to be fine.”

“What’s wrong with him?” I asked Harry and Hermione, Ron was holding a pillow and sulking in the chair across from me.

“McGonagall said I _have_ to do a double concentration if I want to be an auror, and I HATE schoolwork. I’m going to be up to my eyeballs in it for the next five years!” Ron groaned.

“Well,” I motioned to him, “what did you pick then?”

He sat up and listed it off, counting on his fingers, “I did Defense Against the Dark Arts and Charms for my concentrations, Transfiguration for one of my subs and…” he spiked his pillow to the ground now, “bloody Potions! I can’t believe I have to suffer through Snape for five more years!”

Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron’s dramatic display, Harry leaned forward and piped up now, “I chose Defense Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration for my two, then Charms and Alchemy for my subs. I’ll still have to take Snape as well unfortunately. What about you Evie? Are you trying to be an auror too?”

“Oh, no, I actually hate aurors- no offense,” I told them, which took Harry and Ron aback a bit, “I actually chose Defense Against the Dark Arts and Arithmancy as my two concentrations, with Alchemy and Transfiguration for my subs.”

“Arithmancy? What are you trying to be? A curse-breaker?” Ron asked curiously.

“Well, yeah maybe? It seems really cool, and I really enjoyed the lesson today,” I replied.

“Ew, I hate numbers. If you’re trying to be a curse-breaker though, you should talk to my oldest brother Bill. He works for Gringott’s and is in Egypt right now, I’m sure he’d tell you all about it. You’ll have to come to the Burrow and meet him when he’s home sometime,” I didn’t realize Ron had more siblings than the four that were already here. I can’t imagine what it’s like to have such a big family. What’s more, if he was serious about inviting me to his home, then that would mean I’d get to see where George grew up and meet his parents.

“Yeah Ron, that would be really wonderful. I’d love to speak with him sometime!” I told him.

“Alright, I’ll write to mum and see when he’ll be home next and ask her if I can bring you,” he smiled at me.

“You didn’t offer to let me talk to Bill when I told you I’m making Arithmancy one of my concentrations, Ronald,” Hermione said coldly. She stared at him, but wouldn’t look at me. Was she jealous?

Ron looked shocked at this, “That’s because you haven’t settled on your classes yet you lunatic! And you said nothing about being a curse-breaker! If that’s the route you’re going then of course you should talk to Bill as well!”

“So Hermione,” I said trying to get her to look at me, which she did, but she still had the coldness in her eyes, “You’re taking Arithmancy too? That’ll be great to have class together!”

Her eyes softened and she smiled a bit, “Well, I think so at least. I couldn’t decide on my complete schedule, but I definitely think Arithmancy will be one of them. I’m in between Transfiguration or Charms for my other one, and don’t get me started on the subs- I want to take too many! Defense Against the Dark Arts, Ancient Runes, Muggle Studies, Alchemy, Herbology, but I have no idea how I’ll pick!”

Harry laughed, “Well, you’ll either have 6 hours of class time with me or Ron in regards to the concentration, but I don’t know what to tell you about the subs. You have to narrow it down to two, though I’m not sure why you’d consider Muggle Studies considering you have to muggle parents.”

Hermione looked very stressed trying to think of the possibilities, but the boys and I were laughing at Harry’s comment about her parents. I found that Ron, Harry, and I would have Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions together, Ron and I had Transfiguration together, and Harry and I had our Alchemy class together as well. I would have at least Arithmancy with Hermione, so it was nice knowing I had friends in all my classes.

Soon enough it was time for dinner and we made our way down. George was waiting in the entrance hall when we got down there and pulled me aside as soon as he saw me.

“Hey, are you feeling okay? I was worried about you earlier, but I didn’t want to pry.” There was such genuine concern in his eyes that it made me feel warm and safe again, the way I felt when I see that fire of excitement in his eyes when he speaks.

“I’m sorry about earlier, I was just overwhelmed. It’s been a crazy adjustment, and I was lost earlier when you found me. I was just panicking over not knowing how to get back to the tower, that’s all.” It wasn’t a complete lie, so I didn’t feel as guilty. He didn’t need to know about what Draco had done- it wouldn’t do either of us any good.

He smiled, “Well I’m glad to hear you’re doing better. Do you want to practice for tryouts again tonight? I know Fred is itching to redeem himself.”

I nodded, and then we headed into the Great Hall together. As we were walking over to the Gryffindor table, I caught Draco giving us a death glare. Not so much to me, but definitely to George. I shoved it out of my mind quickly though- I was not going to give that prick anymore of my energy.

The rest of the night was pretty uneventful. I, once again, annihilated Fred on the quidditch pitch. George only successfully stole the quaffle from me twice, which didn’t happen again after I made quick adjustments. I was feeling confident about tryouts, and I was feeling good about my class choices. I showered when I got back from practice with the twins, and spent the rest of the night in the common room trying to learn how to play wizard’s chess. I wasn’t any good at it, but it was entertaining at the very least- Ron was able to beat me in three moves. I was starting to feel settled and like I belonged here, and there was no greater feeling.

The next morning, Hermione and I headed off to Arithmancy together while Harry went to Transfiguration and Ron went to Charms. I wasn’t sure what Hermione was going to do if she chose Charms considering it was at the same time as our class.

We sat together at a desk near the front. The classroom seemed a lot larger now as it seems not many people had chosen to make it their concentration. Right before class began, I heard the seat behind me screech and could feel eyes staring at the back of my head. Sure enough, there was Draco Malfoy. _Did he HAVE to make this his concentration?_ I took a deep breath and shook it off- reminding myself that I would not be giving him any of my time or energy.

Defense Against the Dark Arts was another fun lesson that afternoon. Since Hermione wasn’t in that class, Ron, Harry, and I didn’t feel bad about grabbing spots towards the middle instead of the front. I sat next to Dean Thomas, who still seemed a bit scared of me after what I did to McLaggen on Monday. That faded by the end of class though as we were working on identifying all the parts of a Grindylow together.

The rest of the week seemed to pass quickly. I was settling into my classes nicely, the workload hadn’t been too bad just yet, and I was able to avoid Draco entirely. Other than Arithmancy and Transfiguration, I never had to see him. George and I hadn’t been quite as flirtatious, but he was actually having to focus on his schoolwork- he said fifth year was going to kill him. Thursday evening we didn’t even go practice for tryouts, but that was mostly because Fred was tired of getting his ass whooped by me every time. They weren’t worried at all for my tryout.

Friday morning I decided to skip breakfast to sleep in. I was exhausted from the first week, and it felt incredible to not be waking up at 7:30. I sat down at my desk and worked on my homework for the weekend, which wasn’t that much. Snape had already assigned an essay on Shrinking Solutions that had to be at least one roll of parchment long, but the rest of my homework was rather easy. Professor McGonagall just wanted a short essay on the five principal exceptions to Gamp’s Law of Elemental Transfiguration, but Professor Lupin and Professor Vector had only assigned reading for the weekend.

By the time lunch came around, I had already finished my essay for McGonagall and I was more than halfway done with my essay for Snape. When I got to lunch, Ron was complaining about how it’s not fair that I don’t have Friday classes, but Hermione reminded him that he didn’t have classes on Monday morning, which was arguably better.

After lunch, I rushed back up to Gryffindor tower to finish my essay because the last thing I wanted after tryouts this weekend was to worry about an assignment for Snape. It only took me about an hour longer to finish it, so I quickly read through the chapters I had been assigned for Defense Against the Dark Arts and Arithmancy. I launched myself onto my bed and exhaled a big, relieved breath at having both survived my first week and being ahead on my homework.

Suddenly there was a _crack_! I looked over, and there was my father by the fireplace once again, only now he carried a large wrapped package.

“How’d your first week go?” he asked.

I told him about finishing my homework early, what I had chosen to make my concentration, my idea of being a curse-breaker, but I stared at the wrapped package the entire time. He grinned, but pretended not to notice anything. Finally, after more small talk I had to ask; “Dad, what is that in your hands?”

He looked around the room, “What? Oh, you mean _this_? Hm, I had almost completely forgotten.” He was being sarcastic and having a time drawing this out.

“Come on, Dad, tell me!” I begged.

“Tell you? I think it better if I show you. Take my arm.” I did as he instructed. I felt the squeeze of apparition, and suddenly we were in a giant green field.

“Where are we?” I asked.

“Somewhere that no-majs will never find us. You need to practice on your new broom.” He extended his arm and handed me the large wrapped package. I unwrapped gently and stared down at beautiful broom. This was entirely different from the one Ron had, and I couldn’t believe I had my own.

My father had gotten one just like mine, and he brought out a quaffle and a bludger. He had enchanted the bludger to behave as it would in an actual game so I could get the feel for what it may be like. He had also enchanted a practice dummy to play keeper, which meant my father, the legendary Hogwarts quidditch player (according to Ron at least) was going to be playing against me.

The broom went so much faster than Ron’s it was almost terrifying. I could feel my skin being pulled, and I had to be much more careful about my nosedive move because I almost went straight into the ground when I first tried it. My father and I practiced all afternoon, and I was getting absolutely murked. He had knocked me off my broom at least five times, and stolen the quaffle a dozen times as well. He was able to give me really great feedback though, and I felt my form getting even better. I couldn’t remember a time when my father and I had this much fun together. I mean, he was a fantastic teacher when I was growing up, but this kind of instruction was much more fun.

After a few hours of practice, we gathered up the supplies and were saying our goodbyes again. “Now listen to me, I want you to put this broom in your room and don’t let ANYBODY see it until tryouts, you understand me? Not even the Weasley boys.” He said to me.

“Why would I need to hide it?” I asked.

He smirked and put a hand on my shoulder, “Just trust me.”

We hugged goodbye and apparated our separate ways. I did exactly as my father instructed and hid the broom in my room behind my wardrobe. I was quiet at dinner that night. George, Fred, Alicia, Angelina, and Lee were reassuring me that I would do well at tryouts, but the nerves were starting to set in. I didn’t sleep well that night, and I was barely able to eat at breakfast.

“You need to eat, you’re going to need all your energy,” George said to me.

I glared at him and grabbed a piece of toast, though I really didn’t want to eat it. Before I knew it, it was almost 10 am and I needed to get down to the quidditch pitch. I put on the black pants and tryout jersey Oliver had given to me at dinner the night before, retrieved my broom, and walked down to the pitch.

There was a big group of people on the field, and my nerves started getting the better of me. As soon as I walked onto the pitch, George and Fred ran up to me.

“Okay Evie, just do what you’ve been doing in practice with us and you’ll definitely get the spot. I know you can do it,” George placed his hand on my shoulder, and I felt a wave of comfort wash over me.

“Holy shit! Is that your broom?” Fred asked.

“Uh, yeah. What’s wrong with it?” I asked, the nerves starting to come back.

George now looked at the broom and his jaw dropped, “That’s a bloody Firebolt! That’s the best broom in the world! Oliver is going to pass out!”

I felt the heat rushing to my face, I had no idea my father had gone all out on my broom. Now I felt even more pressure to make the team because I would feel so horrible if I didn’t make it and he had spent all this money for no reason.

Oliver called everyone to order, “Okay you lot! You know the deal- just because you made the team last year does not guarantee you a spot this year. Play hard, and focus on what’s on the field. Don’t pay attention to those in the stands.”

I looked and noticed that the stands did have a lot of people. Ron and Hermione were sitting with other Gryffindors, giving me the thumbs up. There was an assortment of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws too. Then strolled in a group of Slytherins, and among them was Draco. He looked down on the field, right at me, and flashed a little smile. I shook my head and turned my back to him, I was not going to let him in my head right now.

Oliver split us up into tryout teams: I was playing chaser alongside Alicia and Angelina, with Fred and George as our beaters thankfully. The other team had Katie Bell, Dean Thomas, and Cormac McLaggen as their chasers, with two bulky boys I didn’t recognize as their beaters. No one was going out for Seeker, so Harry just hovered in the middle of the field to help observe. Oliver took his position at the goalposts- this was going to be different because Oliver had us only scoring against him so he could judge us that way. He sounded the whistle and we were off.

Alicia got the quaffle first and zoomed towards the goal. McLaggen and Dean rushed up on her and were pushing her from side to side. She tried to pass to Angelina, but Katie swooped in and took it. Katie was going in the opposite direction, but soon circled back. I decided it was now or never, and I zoomed straight for her. I saw the fear in her eyes with how rapidly I was approaching her, so it was easy for me to grab the quaffle out of her arms.

I was zooming towards the goalposts; Dean tried to set up a block but I went right over him. Suddenly I felt my broom shake and turned to see McLaggen on my tail. Bludgers were flying over head as Fred and George sped around to try and hit them in McLaggen’s direction, but he was dodging them as well as I was. I knew it was this moment that I had to do it.

I plunged toward the ground, McLaggen following behind me just as I intended. I heard gasps among the crowd in the stands, I could hear Hermione scream, “Pull up Evie! Pull up!”

I turned and grinned at McLaggen, the fear in his eyes clearly battling his pride. At the last possible moment, I pulled up as I had practiced with my father. I heard a collective “Oooh” from the crowd and knew I had lost him. I zoomed straight towards the goalposts completely unopposed and scored right through Oliver’s legs.

After my first goal, I was on fire. Angelina, Alicia, and I got in rhythm with passing the quaffle. I really felt like I was on a team- we moved so fluidly that even Oliver was getting frustrated by his inability to block us. McLaggen was a lot slower after his wipe out, and Dean and Katie were straight up scared of me when I’d fly at them. This broom’s speed was unbelievably fast, and it honestly terrified me a bit as well.

Tryouts finished and we made our way back to the ground- I was shaking I was so nervous. I felt I had played really well, and the feeling I had playing with Alicia and Angelina was something I felt so comfortable with I didn’t want to see someone else playing alongside them.

Oliver approached us with a piece of paper in his hands, “Alright everyone, great job today. I’m impressed with the talent in our house, but unfortunately I do have only 6 slots to give. The results are as follows: Seeker – Harry Potter, Beaters – Fred and George Weasley, Chasers – Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinner, and Evie Goddard.”

My jaw dropped, _I did it._ Angelina, Alicia, and Harry ran at me and hugged me. Fred put me in a headlock, which seemed to be his way of showing affection. George had the biggest smile on his face as he ran at me.

“You did it!” he yelled. He picked me up off the ground and spun me around. He placed me down and looked at me with such joy in his face, and I wasn’t sure if this could get any better. Then it did; he pulled me close by my waist and leaned down and kissed me. His lips were so warm, and if people didn’t surround us, I would have been begging for more.

There was a bunch of “Oooh” from the team, and both George and I were turning extremely red as we tried to laugh it off. There were claps from the team and the crowd, and the embarrassment kept growing. The curiosity got the best of me, so I turned to where the Slytherins had been sitting. Most of them were already walking out, but I caught Draco staring right at me looking absolutely livid before he turned and walked out too.


	14. Crashing Down

I felt on top of the world and nothing, not even Draco Malfoy, was going to ruin this high. I had made the quidditch team, George had kissed me, and the whole team was going to the Three Broomsticks tonight to celebrate.

“You were absolutely brilliant out there, Evie!” Harry said as we walked back to the castle after tryouts, “You really are a natural.”

“Not to mention that Firebolt is going to leave Slytherin in the dust!” Fred chimed in.

“Listen,” Oliver said, “the Firebolt is an advantage, but I think Slytherin will have to watch themselves with Evie’s dive move or they’ll end up in the hospital wing.”

“Serves them right!” Fred boasted. “How many times have they put our players in the hospital wing by playing dirty? I say it’s time for some payback!”

“Yeah, well the best payback will be beating their asses- _again_ ” George laughed.

We all laughed as we made our way back to Gryffindor tower. As happy as I was about everything that had happened so far today, I knew I’d be a lot happier after a long shower.

“I’m going to go shower, I’ll be back down in a bit,” I told George as I headed for the stairs.

He grabbed my hand and pulled me back into him, smiling, “Need any help? I can get all the places you can’t reach.”

He winked at me but I just rolled my eyes, “In your dreams, Weasley.”

Fred popped his head in between us, “Oh, it’s definitely in my dreams.”

George and I both shoved Fred out of the way, and I took this as the perfect opportunity to run up and shower. Remembering the incident with Fred at the beginning of the week, I put the protective enchantment on my door just to be safe.

As the hot water ran down my body and filled me with warmth, it reminded me of how warm George’s lips were. The way his strong hands had felt gripping my waist and pulling me to him- I knew he craved me in that moment as much as I had been craving him. It made me think about what it’d feel like to have his hands on my body… I wondered if he would be as gentle as his lips had been or as commanding as it had felt when he dug his nails into my waist. I shivered at the thought of it and began to rush to finish up.

I put on some jeans and a long sleeved shirt since it was the weekend- it was so strange to not be wearing my robe. I stuffed my wand into my back pocket and headed down for the common room. I was immediately greeted by a big hug from Hermione.

“You were amazing! You scared the hell out of me with that dive move though, what were you thinking?” she scolded, but I knew she really was proud of me.

“I think she might have been thinking ‘Get this asshole McLaggen off of me’” Ron chuckled. “You really were a sight to see out there Evie, you deserve that spot.”

Oliver came up and put his arm around my shoulder, “Between this one and Harry, there’s no way we don’t win the Cup this year! Anyways, we’ll be going to the Three Broomsticks around 7 to celebrate.” He walked off, high-fiving George as he walked over to us.

“Evie! Want to go down to lunch? I know for a fact you didn’t eat enough this morning.” He was right of course; I had taken a single bite of toast this morning that I had immediately wanted to throw back up. Now that he mentioned it, my stomach was grumbling a ton.

We started to make our way down to the Great Hall together, laughing again about how badly McLaggen had wiped out trying to keep up with me. Right as we got to the bottom of the stairs, a girl shouldered me really hard. It was Katie Bell, and I was guessing she wasn’t too happy about not making the team.

“Uh, excuse you?” I said loudly to her as she had just kept walking up the stairs as if nothing happened.

She whipped around, eyeing me up and down; “I’d be so embarrassed if I were you.”

I shook my head in confusion, “Why the hell would I be embarrassed?”

She rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue, “Isn’t it obvious? You only made the team because you have a Firebolt. It’s not like you have any real talent.”

George laughed, “Oh really Katie? ‘Cause from where I was sitting, it looked like you were shaking in fear from Evie’s talent.”

She sneered at him and then glared at me, “Watch your back, Goddard.”

I stepped to her, not breaking the eye contact, “Is that a threat? I’d watch yourself. Wouldn’t want you to end up like Malfoy.”

Her eyes flashed and she grabbed a strand of her hair and began to stroke it. George grabbed my hand and pulled me away from her.

“Don’t pay any attention to her, she’s not worth your time,” he whispered in my ear as we entered the Great Hall.

I couldn’t help it, but as we walked towards our table my eyes were immediately drawn to the Slytherin table- scanning it up and down for Draco. _He’s not there._ I sat on the opposite side of the table than I normally did so I could have a clear view of Slytherin’s table, but he never came to lunch.

After lunch, George, Fred, Lee, Angelina, Alicia, and I started the trek to Hogsmeade. It was only September, but it was already feeling a bit chilly outside. The wind definitely didn’t help either. Lee was already doing an impression of McLaggen’s face when he wiped out during tryouts, and all of us were howling with laughter.

George began to trail behind the group a bit so I fell back with him. “I’m sorry about this,” he started, “I really wanted it to just be us, but they insisted on being there for your first visit to Hogsmeade.”

I grabbed his arm, “George it’s fine, I’m sure we will have plenty of time to come here on our own this year. I’m just so excited to see this place- it sounded amazing the way you described it the other night.”

He began to blush a bit and hid his face from me. While we were walking next to each other, our hands touched just slightly and it made us both jump. He looked down at my hand, seeming like he wanted to grab it, but he just cleared his throat and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

We finally arrived to the village and it was a sight to see. Magic was on full display in shop windows, there were tools hanging up signs on their own, and there were all sorts of people from the magical community here.

“Where should we go first?” Angelina asked.

“Remember guys,” George jumped in, “this is Evie’s first time here, so we have to show her a good time.”

“Honeydukes!” Alicia and Angelina shouted.

At the same moment, Fred and Lee had shouted, “Zonkos!”

George held a hand up to the group, “Evie, where would you prefer to go?”

I looked around at all their eager faces, and simply because I didn’t want to give Fred the satisfaction I decided on Honeydukes as the first stop. Fred and Lee crossed their arms and pouted a bit, but that changed the second we entered the shop. There were so many different kinds of sweets in this shop I was feeling almost overwhelmed. There was taffy that was pulling itself, these balls that were levitating on a display, and more chocolate than I could even process.

I was still extremely full from lunch so I wasn’t looking to buy anything, but I was already planning a trip back here to try every sweet in this shop. As we left the shop, Lee ran up to me with a small box in his hand.

“Here Evie, I got this for you since you did so well at tryouts today,” he said as he handed it to me.

“Oh, wow, thank you so much Lee- that’s so sweet!” I was definitely confused by this, but I didn’t want to be rude.

“You should try one! They’re SO good!” he said, eyeing the box with a big grin on his face.

“Okay, well, do you want some?” I asked as I opened the box. It had a bunch of different colored balls in it and I had no idea what they were.

“I’ll have one in a minute, thanks!” he said.

I grabbed a purple one and went to put it in my mouth. All in the same second, I saw him wink at Fred, and heard George come up and say, “Hey, what are you- NO!”

The second my tooth touched it the little ball exploded and covered me in a purple goo. Fred and Lee started dying laughing, and George just kind of hung his head in defeat.

“I wouldn’t blame you if you killed them,” said Alicia.

“Yeah, you’d be doing the world a favor honestly,” Angelina chimed in.

I turned to Fred and Lee, “I’ll give you a five second head start.”

Their laughter stopped instantly. Fred looked at me curiously, “Or what?”

I sighed, “Five… four… three…”

By this time, fear had clouded their eyes and they began to run- clutching their heads as they ran screaming, “I don’t want to lose my hair!”

I simply laughed and cast two “ _Locomotor Wibbly_ ’s” at them and they both face-planted. They turned and looked at their legs, seeing that they were almost like jelly, and laid back on the ground. The rest of us laughed, and Angelina and Alicia high-fived me. George rolled his eyes as he laughed and went to cast the counter curse on them so they could walk again while I used _scourgify_ to clean the goo off myself. 

Fred and Lee were sulking for real now, but we made it up to them by spending the rest of the afternoon in Zonko’s. The place really was incredible, but what was more incredible was the fact that it made George, Fred, and Lee act like children. They were mesmerized by every product- Fred and George constantly whispering back and forth, theorizing how the product operated or how they would make it better. It was adorable to watch; I could see that fire in George’s eyes as he explained to me how the dungbombs worked, and how he and Fred had come up with about a thousand variations of them.

Before we knew it, it was 5pm and time for dinner. We made the trek back to the castle, and settled in for another wonderful meal. Harry and Ron were lamenting how Hermione had made them spend the whole day doing homework, but Hermione insisted that it was for their own good and they would thank her later.

After dinner, I ran back up to Gryffindor tower to grab a jacket. It had only gotten colder throughout the day, and with the wind picking up more I knew I would be freezing making the long walk back to Hogsmeade. I came down the grand staircase to find George sitting at the bottom waiting for me.

“Where’s the rest of the team?” I asked.

“Oh, they left with some of the other Gryffindors right after dinner, but it’s fine I don’t mind getting there a bit late,” he said as we walked towards the entrance hall.

Suddenly, an idea came to mind and I stopped in the middle of the hall. “Do you trust me?” I asked him.

He tilted his head a bit, “Of course I do. Why?”

I held my arm out, “Take my arm.”

He hesitated and looked confused, but grabbed my arm anyways. We appeared a second later in Hogsmeade, and George fell over.

“Oh,” he said stumbling to his feet, “well, that works too.” We both laughed and headed into the Three Broomsticks. Surprisingly, we were the first of the team to arrive, so we grabbed a few tables for the group that was coming.

Fred walked in and shook his head in disbelief, “The fuck? How did you get here so fast?”

George shouted out, “How do you think? I was waiting on the Apparition prodigy, duh.”

The team came over to the table and soon the whole pub was filled with Gryffindor students. Oliver came over and handed out six shots of firewhisky before holding up his own,

“A toast!” he yelled, causing the whole pub to fall silent. Other Gryffindor students raised their own drinks as well. “A toast! To the best Gryffindor team our house has ever seen! And to the team that will be bringing home the House Cup this year!”

There were cheers and yells from around the pub, even the owner, Madam Rosmerta, raised a glass to us. We downed our drinks and howled from both the burn of the whiskey and the adrenaline in our veins. The drinks kept coming, and coming, and coming. I lost count of how many shots of firewhisky we’d all had after ten.

Fred yelled, “Turn that music up!” and hopped up on a table. He took his shirt off and started swinging it over his head, “Who’s going to let this beater go to town on them tonight?” There were yells and laughs from all around, but even better was Madam Rosmerta whipping him with a bar towel to get him off the table. He grabbed her and grinded up against her, “I know you’ve always wanted me baby.” She rolled her eyes and slapped him in the face before walking back to the bar, which only made him grin, “Always playing hard to get Rosmerta, but I’ll get you one day! Mark my words!”

“Hey, I’m going to run to the restroom, I’ll be back.” I had to yell over the music for George to hear me. He nodded his head and I made my way to the back. This may be the most fun night I’ve ever had: I’m drinking with some of the best people I’ve ever met, I was celebrating our kickass team, and again, George Weasley had kissed me today. I had these moments of fear where I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming because I never thought I could be this happy.

After using the restroom, the room began to spin a bit. I leaned against the stall and stumbled towards the sink to wash my hands. _George is going to have to carry me back at this rate,_ I thought to myself. I thought about using magic to dry my hands, but since I was seeing four hands right now instead of two, I decided to just go with the paper towels. As I exited the restroom to head back to the tables, I felt a hand grab me and pull me into a backroom. The person closed the curtain and it was too dark to see who it was.

“George? What are you doing?” I asked.

There was no response. I pulled out my wand quickly, but before I could do anything I felt lips on mine. I stumbled backwards a bit and was pinned to the wall as they deepened the kiss. It felt like my mind was moving so slow, I could barely process what was happening, but for some reason I couldn’t stop kissing them back. It finally registered that these lips were extremely cold, so I found the strength and pushed them back, flicking my wand saying “ _Lumos._ ”

My vision was fuzzy, but I clearly saw a pale, blonde boy in front of me.

“Draco? What are you-“ he cut me off by kissing me again. I pushed him off again, “What the fuck are you doing?”

“You can’t tell me you don’t have feelings for me. Not when you kiss me like that.” He replied coldly.

“I thought you were George, that’s the _only_ reason I kissed you back.” I said, turning my head.

He grabbed my face and made me look at him, “Evie, why are you going for him? I can take care of you. I can give you everything, and he won’t be able to give you a fraction of the things you deserve. What on earth do you see in him?” He slammed his fist on the wall next to me.

“He’s everything that you’re not. That’s what I see in him.” I stared him right in the eyes, refusing to blink.

He moved his face an inch from mine, “I know you have feelings for me Evie, you can’t lie to me.”

He kissed me again, and the more the firewhisky sank in, the harder it was to push him off. Just then the curtain opened.

“Evie did you accidentally wander back here- what the fuck.” Draco pulled away.

There stood George, who now had a different kind of fire in his eyes. He grabbed Draco by the collar and dragged him out of the room. He pushed Draco out where everyone could see and punched him across the face. Draco grabbed George by the shoulders and they both fell over a table. They wrestled on the ground for a moment, but Draco was clearly no match as George had both weight and height on him. George pinned him and got on top of Draco, punching him relentlessly. Fred, Oliver, and Lee ran over, grabbing George by the arms and pulling him off of Draco.

“I’ll fucking kill you! Do you hear me, Malfoy? I’ll fucking kill you!” George screamed.

Draco stumbled to his feet and spit blood at George. He looked around at the now silent room, looked to me, rubbed some blood off his lips, and head for the door.

I ran up to George, “George, I’m so sorry he just-“

He cut me off, still yelling, “How could you? How could you fucking kiss him? When I kissed you today- did that mean nothing? Do I mean nothing to you? Fuck you, Evie.”

“George I didn’t kiss him! He-“ I tried, tears welling up in my eyes.

“Save your fucking sob story. I’m done.” He pulled himself out of the boys’ grasps and stormed out the door.

All eyes were on me now. Some people looked disgusted with me, but others looked like they felt bad for me. It was all too much and I ran out the door too.

“George, please!” I called out for him through my tears, but there was no response. Once again, I came crashing down just as quickly as I had come up.


	15. Normal

I slid down the wall outside of the pub to the cold, hard ground and pulled my knees to my chest, sobbing into my jeans. _How could everything fall apart so quickly?_ It felt like I’d fallen off my broom from fifty feet in the air, landing on my back and gasping for air that just wouldn’t come. I tried to take deep breaths to calm myself down, but nothing was working. My mind just kept replaying George’s voice over and over again, “Save your fucking sob story.” Every time it replayed in my head was like a dagger to the heart, and I just wanted this pain to end.

I had sobered up the second I saw George and Draco fall over that table; watching George pound his fists into Draco’s face with everything he had scared me- I didn’t know he could be so aggressive. It didn’t matter though, none of it mattered; George was never going to speak to me again because he thinks I like Draco. I wondered if it would have been better to tell him what had happened earlier in the week with Draco, if telling him then would have prevented what happened now. At least then maybe he would believe me when I said I didn’t kiss him because then he’d know that Draco had already done this once before. Everything in me wanted to march down to the dungeons to curse Draco. I wanted to make him hurt as badly as I was, but I knew it wouldn’t change anything with George so what’s the point?

Angelina, Alicia, and Hermione ran out of the pub, looking around for a moment before they found me on the ground still crying.

“Evie…” Alicia said bending down, “Did you… Did you really kiss Draco?”

Angelina hit her in the arm, “Of course she didn’t! He tried to curse her earlier this week why would she kiss him?”

Hermione had sat down in front of me and tried to catch my gaze, “Something else happened with Malfoy this week, didn’t it? Something you didn’t tell anyone about.”

I looked at her in shock as the wind whipped, making my tears burn as they fell down my cheeks, “How did you know?”

She sat next to me and put her arm around me, “I had a feeling something happened when you weren’t in the common room after the meeting with McGonagall on Tuesday.”

Angelina squat down next to Hermione, “You can tell us what happened- we’re your friends.”

I tried to compose myself, but the tears just kept coming. So through sobs and hiccups, I told them about Draco and I’s encounter in the dungeon: him confessing his feelings for me, kissing me, and how I’d slapped him.

“Serves him right,” came a deep voice. All four of us turned our heads to see Fred, who had just walked out of the pub looking much more sober than he had been a short while ago.

“Di- did you hear all of that?” I asked, absolutely mortified.

He nodded, “I knew you wouldn’t kiss Malfoy, especially not after what happened this week. None of it made sense, but good on you for slapping him then, and George deserved to kick his ass tonight. Don’t worry; I know my brother and he will come around.”

“If I hadn’t of been drinking so fucking much none of this would of happened. Fuck, I’m so stupid!”

Fred bent down in front of me and grabbed my hand, “Evie, you were celebrating tonight. It should have been a safe and fun night. You had every right to let loose and drink as much as you wanted. Malfoy is a pathetic ass for taking advantage of someone who was clearly too intoxicated to put up a fight- I’m just glad George found you when he did, before anything else could have happened. Now, do you want me to walk you back? I don’t think it’s a good idea to apparate right now.”

I thought for a moment: how will it look when I show up with the other twin? There was a part of me that didn’t want to because it’d look questionable, but the other part of me was cold, tired, sad, and all I wanted was to crawl in my bed. That’s the side that won out. After a moment more, I nodded my head and took his hand as he helped me up.

“We’re going to stay here and make sure everyone knows what really happened,” said Angelina.

“See you in the common room?” Hermione asked.

I shook my head; “I’ll see you guys at breakfast tomorrow- I need to be alone tonight.” They all nodded their heads with understanding, but pulled me into a big hug before I started on my trek with Fred.

The first few minutes were a bit awkward. I think we were both still in shock of how the night had unfolded, and also he and I had never been alone together. Typically, Fred was joking and annoying George and I, but right now he was really quiet and reserved.

“He hasn’t stopped talking about you all week you know,” he said out of nowhere. I looked over at him with confusion appearing clearly across my face, “George, I mean. Ever since you got here he’s been talking about you nonstop.”

“You’re just saying that to try and make me feel better.”

“Well, yes, but it’s the truth. I’ve never seen him behave this way about a girl. He’s hooked up with plenty, but he’s never pined after one before. You caught him in a trance the second he laid his eyes on you,” I felt my face go scarlet red, so I was extremely glad for the darkness at this moment so he wouldn’t see it. “I can see why, you really are amazing Evie. You’re mesmerizing to watch on a broom, an incredibly strong witch, not to mention ethereal in your beauty…” My jaw dropped as I looked over at him. _Fred thinks of me that way?_ Catching my gaze, he quickly dropped his head and cleared his throat, “Don’t go getting the wrong idea, of course. You’re George’s and I wouldn’t do that to my brother.”

The reality came crashing down again, causing the brief moment of vulnerability Fred displayed to fade from my mind. “I’m not George’s. We kissed once, and he’ll never look my way again after what happened tonight.”

“Have faith. I’m going to talk to him, everyone else is going to know what happened, and Malfoy better stay out of my line of sight if he wants to keep breathing. I’m sure everything will be back to normal soon.” I hoped he was right. The castle came into view and I was thankful to almost be up to my bed. Sobering up so quickly and getting your heart broken apparently came with the side effect of extreme drowsiness.

Fred and I crawled through the portrait hole to find a mostly empty common room. A few first years, Katie Bell, Cormac McLaggen, and the two other beaters from tryouts were here, but most of the other Gryffindor students had been at the Three Broomsticks. Sitting on the couch that Harry, Ron, and Hermione normally occupied, staring into the fire, was George. He turned his head as soon as Fred and I walked into the room and stared at me with tangible disgust. He opened his mouth to say something, but shook his head and turned back to the fire. Tears started forming in my eyes again, so I ran up the stairs to my room.

I threw myself on the bed and let myself cry as hard as I wanted. I had tried to keep myself composed outside the pub, but now that I was alone it was all coming out unrelentingly. It wasn’t long before I had curled up into a ball and found myself drifting to sleep on top of my tear soaked pillow.

Fred couldn’t have been more wrong about things returning to normal. Most Gryffindors had believed Hermione, Angelina, and Alicia when they told them what really happened with Draco, but the rest of the school did not. Katie Bell was one of the Gryffindors who did not believe it, and she made it quite apparent to me every chance she got.

“I mean honestly, it’s so obvious she was just using George for quidditch practice. Once she made the team, she had no use for him anymore. And then to come back here with Fred? How tacky can one person be?” She’d say loudly to her friends in the common room or the Great Hall- really anywhere that she knew I’d hear her.

The students that had been asking me for help apparating last week had stopped looking in my direction all together. The whispers were the worst part. I’d hear my name or George’s followed by eyeballs that watched my every move. I’d taken to spending every moment that I wasn’t in class to being in my room- I’d even stopped going down for meals and just made myself a little kitchen in my dorm. I was a decent chef back home, always cooking for my father the no-maj way, so I had taken up the hobby again to give myself a little escape.

I’d apparte to the greengrocer in Hogsmeade, the Magic Neep, for most my supplies, but occasionally I’d have to visit a no-maj store to obtain other items. Once when I had apparated into Hogsmeade just in front of the greengrocer’s shop, I turned to see George scowling at me from a distance. After a moment though he bit his lip and walked into Zonko’s behind Lee and Fred.

It’d been over a month and George couldn’t look in my direction for more than three seconds. Quidditch practices were the worst because he would ‘accidentally’ hit bludgers in my direction, knocking me clean off my broom at least three times by now. I felt bad for the team because they seemed to walk on eggshells around us. They all believed me about Draco, but no matter what anyone said to George, he didn’t believe it. He’d just turn red in the face and storm off if anyone brought it up. Even worse, he and Fred had taken to fighting more and more ever since. George thought Fred was taking my side over his, and Fred thought George was a stubborn git who just loved to be wrong. The whole thing was a disaster.

I was passing my classes, but only because Hermione studied with me every night in my room since I wouldn’t come down to the common room or go to the library with her. Harry and Ron would join us some nights as well, but they hated to do schoolwork so they were only allowed to come when Hermione and I weren’t actually trying to get work done. It was nice to hang out with them in my room, and they didn’t seem to mind all that much. We’d play cards, Ron would bring his wizard’s chess set, occasionally we’d all pass a bottle of wine- for how terrible most everything else was, it was nice to have this small bit of normalcy.

Towards the end of October, I was sitting next to Harry in Defense Against the Dark Arts waiting for lesson to start when Professor Lupin came in with a big wardrobe floating across the floor. He gently lowered his wand to set it down, and then looked to us with a great big grin. The wardrobe shook violently and the class scooted their seats back instinctively.

“Good afternoon class! Anyone fancy a guess at what our lesson is today?” Lupin said with a bit more enthusiasm in his voice than he normally had. The man always looked ill, but today he seemed healthier than I’d ever seen him.

The class was silent with the only noise coming from the wardrobe as it shook some more. Professor Lupin looked around, and even though no one had answered his smile hadn’t dropped, “Today we’re going to be learning about boggarts. Does anyone know what boggarts are?”

Dean piped up from his seat next to Ron; “They’re shape shifters or something right?”

Lupin jumped excitedly, “Yes, Mr. Thomas! Exactly! Not just any shape shifter though, boggart’s take on what a person fears the most. So what my boggart is will not be the same as what any of yours is- I doubt any person in this room has the same boggart.”

There were some nervous grumbles from around the class as students thought about what that thing would shift to if they were to stand in front of it. Thinking about it myself, I had _no_ idea what mine would possibly turn into. I’d already seen one of my parents dead, so what could possibly be scarier to me now?

“Now, everyone up from your seats.” As we stood up, Professor Lupin flicked his wand and the desks and chairs zoomed across the floor to the wall. “A boggart’s greatest repellant is laughter. With whatever a boggart turns in to, the way to get rid of it is by changing it into something hilarious. There’s a simple spell, so repeat after me without your wands: _Riddikulus!_ ”

The class repeated it with some laughter, which I could understand because that might be the most _ridiculous_ spell I’d ever heard. “Very good, now I’d like you to form a line. Ah, Mr. Weasley,” Ron had been trying to hurry to the back of the line where Harry and I had gone, but was caught by Professor Lupin instead, “how about you go first?”

“M-m-me? Well, I don’t know professor; I think someone else ought to-“ Ron stammered, trying to make his way to the back of the line. Harry and I covered our mouths as we tried not to laugh too hard.

“Nonsense, nonsense, I’m sure you’ll do wonderfully. Now, just stand right here. Wand at the ready. I want you to picture the thing you fear the very most, and turn it into something funny.” Professor Lupin glided over to his desk, which had also been moved to the side, and turned on some music. He flicked his wand, and the door to the wardrobe began to open.

Out of the wardrobe came an enormous spider, it must have been over 10 feet wide. “Ron’s biggest fear is spiders?” I whispered to Harry.

“Yeah, always has been. Last year we encountered about a thousand of them that were that big though, so I’m sure that didn’t help.” He said this so nonchalantly that I couldn’t help but hit him in the arm the way Hermione often did.

“Spiders, spiders, spiders, why spiders? Why me?” I could hear Ron whimpering from all the way back here.

“Wand at the ready, Ron! Wand at the ready!” shouted Lupin.

Finally, Ron pointed his wand forward and yelled, “ _Riddikulus!_ ” The spider began to roll around, unable to get any proper footing, because Ron’s spell had put roller-skates on all of its legs.

Laughter erupted from the class as Ron made his way to the back with us, receiving tons of high-fives along the way. It was so interesting seeing everyone’s biggest fears: someone saw a snake, someone else saw a clown, and someone’s turned into what I assumed was their mother disowning them. Dean Thomas’s turned into a hand, just a hand, which was walking on it's own. When he cast his banishing spell, the hand was caught in a mousetrap and he let out a big exhale.

The closer I got to the front, the more I was worried about what mine could turn in to. I wasn’t afraid of my father dying since I’d already seen my mother dead, I wasn’t afraid of having my heart broken since that had already happened, and there was no creature that terrified me.

I stepped up in front of what had been a mummy that had been unraveled from all its bandages and Professor Lupin shouted through his laughter, “Wand at the ready Evie!” I pulled my wand out and watched as the boggart began to change.

A skin-crawling low wail echoed through the room, “EVIE!” it yelled. “HELP ME PLEASE!” I sank to my knees but the yelling continued, “JUST KILL ME, FUCKING KILL ME!” I crawled over to it, not even noticing I was screaming. “EVIE!” There was George’s body lying in front of me, thrashing about in pain. He was being tortured by an unknown source, tears falling down his cheeks, staining the wood floor. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t think, I just screamed, “SOMEBODY HELP HIM! PLEASE! SOMEBODY HELP HIM!”

Harry grabbed my shoulder and shoved me backwards. He stepped in front of me and the boggart began to change. It felt like the world was moving in slow motion. I scrambled to my feet and all I heard was a high-pitch ringing in my ears. I turned to see Ron staring at me, completely ghost white and in shock. The other students in the class had similar expressions on their face. I couldn’t hear anything other than the high-pitched ringing, so I didn’t even notice that Lupin had jumped in front of Harry’s boggart to face his own. I just thought _Accio_ in my head, and my bag came flying to me. I bolted out of the classroom without a single care for the punishment I could receive.

My hearing did not return as I ran down the corridor; the high-pitched ringing and George’s screams were the only things I could hear. I didn’t stop running until I got to the Fat Lady’s portrait, and even then it was only a brief moment before I was running through the common room and towards the stairs.

“Evie? What’s wrong?” Fred tried to say to me, but I was already booking it up the stairs. I ran into my room and slammed the door behind me, holding it there for a moment as if I were sure something had been chasing after me. I stumbled back from the door and held a hand to my mouth- I wasn’t sure if I wanted to scream, cry, or just be silent. Silence took over as I sat onto the floor, staring at the door, with my knees in my chest.

 _Why would that be my greatest fear? The guy who broke my heart in pain?_ It had been almost two months since George and I last spoke, and I was completely over him by now. _That’s a lie,_ I thought to myself. Maybe I did still care about George, but there’s no reason that my boggart should have anything to do with him. I needed to get over him, and I had at least partially convinced myself I was up until that happened.

There was a knock at the door, but I was too lost in my shock to register it. The door opened and Ron crouched down in front of me, “Evie? Are you okay?” I nodded my head, staring at the wall still, but unable to form any words.

“I’m going to take that as a 'no' since you aren’t talking.”

I finally looked at him- he was still white as a ghost, “Why are you here? There’s still another two hours left in class.”

“After you and Harry’s horrifying boggarts, he just dismissed the class. He said we’d study them more next week.”

“Oh,” I said as I focused my attention back to the wall. Looking at him was too embarrassing; he’d just seen that my greatest fear was his brother, who hated me, getting tortured. Even worse, looking at him was too hard because of how he resembles George. Seeing his face made George’s wails fill my head again.

“I’m not mad or anything- about the boggart I mean. I thought you were over him, so it was a bit jarring to see my brother like that on the floor.” He chuckled a little as he said this, but I just stared at him now in disbelief.

“A bit jarring? A bit? You see my greatest fear become your brother being tortured and screaming for me, and you say it’s just a _bit_ jarring?”

“Well maybe more than a bit.” We both stared at each other for a moment before laughter encapsulated both of us. He sat down next to me and I put my head on his shoulder. He was a bit annoying sometimes, but Ron had been a constant source of laughter for me these past two months that I’d been hiding out. Even though his brother hated me, Ron never changed how he treated me even for a second.

“Mum wrote back to me finally. She said Bill will be home for Christmas, and you’re welcome to join us if you like. I know that might be weird with George being there, but I know Fred, Ginny, and even Percy would like it if you came.” I eyed him strangely at the mention of Percy’s name, “Well, I mean you do just sit in your room, so you aren’t breaking any rules. And ever since you’ve become a recluse, it’s kept Hermione, Harry, and I from breaking rules, so I think he’s grateful for you.”

We both laughed at this, and I just thought for a moment about spending Christmas with the Weasley’s. My father had already told me that he’d have to travel for the holidays, and he recommended I stay here anyways because he said he had always enjoyed the holidays here. Picturing the Weasley home now was different than what I had envisioned initially. The last time I thought about it, I had thought George and I would be together and he would be introducing me to his family, but now that things were like this I thought of an awkward holiday dinner where we avoided eye contact. Still though, I loved Arithmancy and did want to know all about being a curse-breaker, so I couldn’t pass up on this opportunity to meet Bill.

“You know what? I’d be honored to join you for Christmas- to hell with George”

“I think your boggart _was_ hell.” He joked, causing me to hit him in the arm as a knee jerk reaction. He got up and extended a hand to me, “Come down to the common room with me?”

I backed away from his hand and stood up on my own, “I can’t right now. I know the twins have the rest of the day off and I can’t bear the thought of looking at George right now.”

Ron dropped his head, but nodded, “Yeah, I figured you might say that. Well, I’ll bring Harry and Hermione up here later. Would you mind cooking that really delicious muggle snack you make?”

I rolled my eyes, “You mean mac and cheese?”

His eyes lit up, “Yes! Please? You know it’s my favorite!”

“Yeah, yeah, anything for you Ron. I’ll see you later, I still have to do the Potions homework for tomorrow’s class.” He walked out of the room with a lot more color in his face than he had come in with. I grabbed my bag and made my way over to my desk to do my homework.

When I was about finished with yet another ridiculous essay from Snape, I heard a knock at my door. Without looking up I called, “It’s open guys come on in.” I heard the door open and then close, but none of them said anything. I put my quill down and got up from my chair, “I’ll get the mac and cheese going in a minute I just need to-“ I turned around to see George standing there, looking at me with an emotion that wasn’t anger for the first time in months.

“Can we talk?” he asked softly.

My heart stopped beating. I rubbed my eyes to make sure I wasn’t dreaming, but once I started seeing stars I knew it was real. I couldn’t even muster up words, so I just nodded and motioned for the loveseat. We sat down together in a somewhat uncomfortable silence. He stared down at the floor as if he were going over a speech in his head. It felt like hours had passed before he finally spoke up.

“I’m sorry that I’ve avoided you all this time. I’m sorry that I overreacted.” My jaw dropped.

“You had every right to react how you did, it’s my fault anyways.” I looked to the floor this time, unable to stare at his face now without thinking of the boggart.

“It wasn’t your fault. I know that… now at least.”

“George, I should have told you that Draco kissed me earlier that week, and that I rejected him then. I ran into you right after that happened, when I cried in the hallway that first week, and I should have told you then. None of this would have happened if I hadn’t lied.” I felt his hand reach over and touch mine, which sent something that felt like a jolt of electricity through my body.

“I know Draco kissed you then, and that you fought him off.” He said gently, dropping his head down to try and get me to look at him.

“Did Fred finally tell you?”

He exhaled a big sigh, “Fred actually told me that when you two came back from the Three Broomstick’s that night, but I was a git and didn’t believe him.”

“So what made you believe it now?”

“Well,” he started, seeming reluctant to utter his next words, “Malfoy came and talked to me this evening.”

An audible gasp came out of my mouth. _He did what?_ “Draco- he- what did he say?”

“The truth. He told me that he had come on to you earlier that week and that you rejected him. He also told me that he knew you would be drunk that night and thought it would be his best shot to get you to admit feelings for him.” George had turned himself to face the fire, which had been growing larger ever since he entered the room.

“Why would he do that?” It didn’t make any sense. What did Draco have to gain by telling the truth?

“I couldn’t figure out either, which is why I didn’t believe him at first, but he said that when he heard about your boggart today he knew he needed to talk to me. He’s seen how miserable you’ve been these past couple months, and apparently it’s been killing him to see you like this. Hearing about your boggart was what made him realize that the only way he could make you happy was by letting you go.” Now he turned to look at me again, a faint smile on his face.

I dropped my head the second he looked at me, “So… you heard about the boggart too I suppose.”

“Yeah, Ron told me right after I got back from talking with Draco, and it made me certain that he wasn’t lying. Hearing about it, I knew that I needed to come talk to you and apologize. I was so stupid Evie. I don’t know how I’ll possibly make up for all the pain I’ve caused you, but I will do anything to fix this. I’m so sorry, and I’ll say that every day for the rest of my life if it means having you in it.” This time I grabbed his hand with mine and looked at him. We were both staring at each other, without any awkwardness or animosity, just a true desire to actually be in each other’s presence. It felt surreal that this was happening, and I wasn’t taking any moment for granted.

“George,” I said, finally with a smile on my face, “let’s just start with being friends. We both got carried away with our feelings and we should just focus on our friendship first before anything else.”

He smiled back at me, “I agree wholeheartedly. Just one question.”

“What’s that?”

He chuckled now, “Can friends still kiss? Cause I haven’t been able to shake our kiss on the pitch and I was just thinking-“

I hit him in the arm and we were both laughing uncontrollably. Suddenly it was like nothing had ever happened, and we were talking again like two old friends catching up. There wouldn’t be any more awkwardness in the common room, no reason to avoid the Great Hall, and maybe people would stop whispering when they see that we are friends again. I hate to admit it, but Fred was right, it seems like everything would be going back to normal.


	16. Real Magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW: very NSFW, drugs, alcohol. you've been warned.

The next two weeks were the most blissful I’d had since I arrived. Once George and I walked down to breakfast together the morning after we talked, the whispers about everything stopped. We would sit together at meals again, and it was great to be back to normal. Fred, Lee, and George making stupid jokes, Angelina, Alicia, and I barely tolerating them, Harry and Ron complaining about everything, and Hermione hitting them- it was like nothing had ever happened.

Gryffindor house as a whole seemed to be in a lot better spirits since George and I made up, but that was also because the first quidditch game of the year was rapidly approaching. We were going to be playing Slytherin first, and Oliver had us practicing every night during the week and on Sunday mornings.

“This is criminal Oliver,” Fred said on the first Sunday practice of November, “This is a holy day! You can’t make us practice!”

“Shut it Fred, you’re not religious.” Oliver retorted as we made our way on to the pitch.

“I could be,” mumbled Fred as he stuck his tongue out behind Oliver’s back.

All the practices helped, but it definitely seemed that George and I becoming friends again had really sealed the deal. We were practicing better than ever before- even Oliver didn’t have many notes before and after practices. By the time we were wrapping up our last practice before the game, Oliver had resorted to cursing us for being too cocky.

“I don’t give a damn about how well practices have been going!” he yelled. “If you all carry this attitude into tomorrow’s game, we’re going to get our asses whooped. Slytherin never plays by the rules, so you lot have to play a thousand times better than you ever have in practice!”

There were grumbles among the team, but from the stories I’d heard from all of them about playing Slytherin in the past, I knew he was right. “You all are to shower and go straight to bed this evening, do you understand me? If I see any of you hanging out in the common room, if I hear of any of you drinking tonight, you’re going to be in a world of pain. Got it?” He said this last bit staring directly at Fred.

“Why’d he say it like that? It seemed like he was talking to me specifically!” Fred complained as we walked back to the castle.

Angelina laughed, “Maybe because you’re our resident alcoholic?”

The rest of us snorted, but Fred flared his nostrils, “I am _not_ an alcoholic! What’s wrong with liking a little nightcap?”

“Because you have six nightcaps and start dancing like a loon,” chuckled Harry.

“Whatever, you’re all just jealous that I have more fun than all of you combined,” Fred said, whipping his growing hair behind him as he walked ahead of us.

After we got back into the common room, George turned to me, “So, do you want to hang out tonight? In your room, of course, wouldn’t want Oliver to give us a ‘world of pain.’” We both laughed but I shook my head, “Not tonight. I’m pretty nervous about the game tomorrow, so I’m genuinely going to shower, do whatever homework I can, and get to bed.”

He grinned a little and nodded, “Totally understand. We’ll have plenty to celebrate tomorrow after we crush Slytherin. Well, goodnight Evie. See you in the morning.”

He headed up the stairs and I just watched him go. His hair was getting longer too, and it looked so hot. Now that I was thinking about it, Fred looked hot with his hair too. I had a soft spot for George, but lately they both looked damn fine all the time. Ever since that night at the Three Broomstick’s, Fred had been a lot nicer to me. He still played pranks of course, but he seemed to be more flirtatious than annoying. He did admit that he thought I was beautiful that one night, but he also said he’d never do that to George. Since George and I were just friends however… _No, no, you can’t think like that. That’s his twin._

I made my way up to my room, still thinking about the both of them. George is so sweet, but Fred’s wild side seemed so intriguing. I had heard the rumors of what Fred was like behind closed doors- he was also known as the resident whore of Gryffindor. Hearing the stories though, it was easy to understand why. He doesn’t have an ego for no reason apparently. Similar rumors had gone around about George as well, but people made it seem that he was a bit tamer than his twin.

As I showered, a wild thought of my own crossed my mind, _I wonder what it would be like with both of them._ A shiver passed through my body as I thought of both of their eyes on me, wanting me, craving me. _No, no, no, they’re twins. There’s no way that would ever happen._ What if it did though? Would they be sweet and gentle, or rough and degrading? Or would one be gentle and the other rough? Both of them have such big, strong hands; it’d be incredible to have them roaming my body. I shook my head and snapped myself back to reality. I need to be thinking about the game tomorrow, not this deluded fantasy that could never happen.

I sat down to try and do my transfiguration homework, but my mind was millions of miles away. I finally gave up and decided to just go to bed. I tossed and turned for a long while, unable to get comfortable. My head was filled with all the different formations Oliver had been drilling into us for the past two weeks, and as I thought through these I felt fear take over me. What if I embarrassed my team out there tomorrow? What if I couldn’t make a single goal? What if I ended up in the hospital and they were down a player? These questions bounced around my brain like pinballs bouncing off bumpers, and I found myself with a pounding headache before I fell asleep.

I woke after my very sleepless night to find my headache had only gotten worse. I put on my quidditch jumper and lugged myself down to the Great Hall for a breakfast I did not want to eat. I felt the same that I had felt on the day of my tryout but somehow even worse now. I joined the team at the table, and found comfort in the fact that they looked as bad as I did. Oliver was a wreck, staring at his cereal bowl but not able to lift his spoon. The only ones speaking were Fred and George, who were cracking jokes as if we didn’t have the second biggest game of the season happening in two hours (the biggest game being if we were to play for the Quidditch House Cup).

After a breakfast of a single orange slice, Oliver was telling us it was time to head down to the pitch. The locker room was quiet as we all pulled on our robes, even the twins had gone silent the second we entered. As we dressed, I heard the stands begin to fill as the roar of student voices fell down to our locker room below. We could hear the cheers of “Go, go, Gryffindor!” starting already, but also boos from the Slytherins. Oliver began to attempt a pep talk, but soon resided himself to, “Just do what we’ve been doing in practice, I believe in us.”

We made our way towards the pitch, pausing right before the entrance. George and Fred appeared on either side of me with their beater’s bats on their shoulders- I couldn’t help but find myself almost drooling at how attractive they looked in their red robes.

“You got this kid, wipe them out the way you did McLaggen,” Fred whispered in my ear.

“I’ll be sure to knock them off their broom like I did to you in practice,” George joked.

I rolled my eyes and we started our march onto the field. The Slytherin team came out as soon as we did, and my mouth dropped. _Malfoy?_ I had no idea Draco’s on their team, and now I felt my nerves skyrocket. He wasn’t even looking at me though, right now he was just staring down Harry. Their captain, Marcus Flint, was a mean looking guy who tried to crush Oliver’s hand on the shake. I looked around; it looked like Flint and two brown haired boys that Angelina told me were Graham Montague and Adrian Pucey would be their Chasers, two short but bulky boys named Peregrine Derrick and Lucian Bole were the beaters, a tall muscular boy named Miles Bletchley was their keeper, so it appeared Malfoy was their seeker.

“Alright!” Madam Hooch yelled, “I want a nice clean game. No funny business, from either team, got it?”

Fred called out, “It’s never from us!”

Madam Hooch eyed him, “Watch yourself, Weasley. Mount your brooms, on my whistle!”

The whistle sounded and fourteen players rose high into the sky- we were off. Pucey had gotten the quaffle first and sped towards Oliver. Angelina and Alicia both sped towards him, trying to box him in, only to have Flint run directly into Angelina, and Montague grabbed Alicia’s hair trying to pull her off her broom. Pucey sped forward unopposed and launched the quaffle towards the left goal, which Oliver kicked away. Madam Hooch sounded her whistle and called two penalties on Montague and Flint, allowing both Angelina and Alicia to score on Bletchley with their penalty shots.

Flint cursed and hit Bletchley upside the head before zooming towards center field. Angelina had the quaffle now, Pucey and Montague rapidly gaining on her, so she passed to Alicia. She took off towards the outer edge of the field as Flint headed straight towards her. Suddenly a bludger flew over her head, and as she rose up after dodging it, another hit her in her side. She cried out and Flint took the quaffle, turning around to race back towards Oliver.

I raced towards Flint, eyeing an opening to steal the quaffle. Right as I approached him, Flint smirked and threw a punch, clocking me square in the nose. I paused in the air, seeing blood starting to drip onto my broom. I turned around to chase after Flint, but saw that Fred had already caught up to him. He looked furious, and with no hesitation he elbowed Flint directly in to the nose, causing him to drop the quaffle. I zoomed under him and caught it, racing back towards the goal. Before Pucey or Montague had even seen me, I was launching it to the right goal, juking to the left at the last second to throw off Bletchley, and scored my first goal. It was 30-0 Gryffindor, but Madam Hooch called another penalty for Fred’s elbow to Flint’s face.

“Look at Evie’s face! Flint did that to her!” Fred yelled.

Madam Hooch wouldn’t call it though, so Marcus Flint took his penalty shot and scored the first goal for Slytherin. We were off again, this time Montague had the quaffle. Alicia rammed into his side, but he rammed her back, causing her to spin down towards the ground. I raced towards Montague from behind and ripped the quaffle right out of his arms, taking him a full 5 seconds before he realized it was gone.

I turned on a dime and sped back towards Bletchley, ready to make my second goal, when I felt Flint ram my side. I ducked my head as he threw another punch. With a smirk on my face, I took my dive. Flint followed after me, ramming into me as we plunged. I turned and grinned at him, quickly waving my hand ‘bye’ before I pulled up. Confusion was the last look I saw of his face before he was out of my sight and a collection of “Ooohs” and cheers erupted from the crowd. Bletchley was staring down at what I assumed was Flint on the ground when I zoomed towards him and scored straight through his legs.

Right after this goal, I turned to look at the crowd. They were cheering, and the faint “Go, go, Gryffindor!” could be heard even from this height. There were screams, and I scanned the pitch to find that Harry and Draco had both gone into a dive. They pulled up and were flying low to the ground. It seemed Malfoy was ahead of Harry, but for some reason he turned around and suddenly flew off his broom, doing a few flips before he landed on his back. Harry reached out in front of him then threw his fist in the air- he had caught the golden snitch!

I raced towards the ground, dismounted my broom, and ran straight for him. Pulling him into a massive hug I yelled, “You did it Harry!”

“Me? Without you taking out Flint this would have been much more difficult- WE did it Evie!” he yelled, hugging me back. The team ran towards us, Oliver practically screaming at the top of his lungs, as we huddled in for a group hug.

George hugged me and spun me around, “You were incredible out there! Now, we really need to get you to Madam Pomfrey, I’m almost certain your nose is broken. That fucker Flint needs to watch his back.” That reminded me that Fred had taken a penalty just to get Flint back for punching me. I looked around to find the other redhead and ran up to him.

“Wow, you look fucked up,” he laughed at me.

I rolled my eyes and reached up to grab his face, pulling him down so I could kiss his cheek, “My hero.” He turned a flaming red in the face and touched his cheek where I had kissed him. He looked over to George, causing me to look at well, who was just laughing and giving him a thumbs up.

He rubbed his cheek a little and looked at his hand, “Ewww you bled all over me! We’re taking you to Madam Pomfrey now before you bleed all over the field.”

I laughed, “Well, at least I look better than Marcus.” We looked over to see him being carried on a floating stretcher, apparently still knocked out from wiping out on that dive.

“Your whole face could be disfigured from a bludger, and you’d still like a million times hotter than Flint” Fred said.

The twins tried to usher me to the hospital wing immediately, but I walked back to the locker room to take my robes off and put them back in my locker. Finally, after all my quidditch gear was put away and my broom was safely back in the broomshed, I walked with them to the hospital wing.

Flint was still knocked out cold when we walked in, and Malfoy was on the cot next to him groaning a bit. Madam Pomfrey gasped when we walked in, “Why didn’t you bring her to me sooner? The longer we wait the more difficult it is to heal!”

“We tried to tell her that Madam Pomfrey,” George said.

“This one is just stubborn and can’t do as she’s told,” Fred said with a wink.

Madam Pomfrey sat me down on the bed and stood back with her wand pointed at my face. “You guys can go,” I told them, “I’ll be back to the common room soon really its-“ just then I felt a painful crack in my face as my nose was put back in place, “FUCK!” I yelled.

The twins laughed and George just said, “Yeahhh we definitely weren’t going to miss that!” I gave them a death glare as Madam Pomfrey wiped the blood from my face and they continued laughing. I caught Malfoy staring over at us with some sadness in his eyes.

I looked at Draco as we were walking out and he mouthed, “Good job” to me as we passed. I stared in disbelief and almost walked right into the wall. “Watch where you’re going stupid!” Fred said as he shoved me to the side, “Don’t need Madam Pomfrey having to fix your face _again_.”

“What were you staring at anyways?” George asked.

“Uh- it was nothing. Just… couldn’t believe how fucked up Flint’s face was. You nailed him Fred!” I said trying to pass it off.

Fred patted himself on the shoulder, “Well, I am the best, so you’re welcome!”

George and I rolled our eyes and the three of us laughed as we made our way back towards the tower. Fred hit George in the side and then said, “Actually, Evie, we have to go do something. You go shower and meet us in the common room after. Okay?”

Before I could say anything, the two of them took off down the stairs laughing to themselves. I walked in to the common room and sped straight for the stairs. People were congratulating me and trying to talk about the game, but I knew I smelled horrible and needed a shower before any of that.

It took forever to brush my hair out from how tangled it had gotten in the air. I put on a pair of jeans, an old Gryffindor sweater my father had given me, and my converse before walking down to the common room. Cheers erupted as I entered the room and everyone raised their cups in my direction.

Fred appeared up on a table, “Let’s hear it for our newest chaser!”

George appeared next to him, “Who knocked the Slytherin captain flat on his ass!”

There was some ‘Here, here!’ as people drank the contents of their cups.

“Now!” Fred yelled, pointing his wand at a speaker, “Let’s fucking party!”

The music roared and students flooded the floor. There was a table full of food, some of the furniture had been cleared out of the way for a dance floor, and the room was more full than I’d ever seen it before. Looking around, I realized there were Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws here as well.

Hermione ran up to me and pulled me over to a couch where they sat, “You were incredible today! How’s your nose? I couldn’t believe they wouldn’t call that penalty on Marcus Flint when he so clearly punched you!”

I laughed as I yelled over the music, “I’m fine, and Madam Pomfrey put it back in place. Only hurt for about a second. Harry, what you did to Malfoy was incredible. What made him fall off his broom?”

He leaned in with a wicked grin on his face, “I told him I think he may have a bald spot from when you cursed him. Made him so nervous he fell right off. He definitely would have caught the snitch if that hadn’t happened.”

We all laughed and Ron shouted, “That curse is the gift that keeps on giving!” We all kind of stared at him for a second and he stammered, “I mean, apart from it leading to that big feud with you and George, but that was Malfoy’s fault! Anyways, what’s up with you and George? We saw you kiss Fred today.”

My jaw dropped as I punched him in the arm, “That was just a kiss on the cheek! It doesn’t mean anything! I just did it since Fred had gotten Flint back for punching me.”

Harry and Hermione nodded their heads, but Ron rolled his eyes and leaned back, putting his arms behind his head. “I don’t know,” he said kind of sing-songy, “Fred seemed _pretty_ happy about that kiss.”

Hermione punched him in the other arm, “Oh shut up Ronald!”

We all laughed for a bit and then I went over to get some food, the hunger pains from only eating an orange slice this morning setting in. I grabbed a cup and Lee poured me some punch.

“What’s in this?” I asked him.

“Let’s just say, it’s going to be a fun night for everyone,” he said with a grin.

I shrugged my shoulders and took a sip. _Oh god gross_. It tasted like a mixture of firewhisky, wine, rum, and fruit punch. _This is dangerous_ , I thought to myself, but I was definitely in for a fun night. I ate my food and finished my first cup, and then I had about three more. I was feeling quite good- the warmth from the alcohol spread through my body, and I took my sweater off, just wearing my black tank top underneath. The music was roaring, so I made my way to the dance floor, finding George and Fred at the center of a circle looking like idiots. They spotted me and stepped out, other students filling in the gap they had left.

“You better be careful love,” George shouted in my ear.

Fred shouted in the other, “You look tantalizing in that top, you’re going to make the boys here act up looking like that.”

I rolled my eyes and pulled both their faces near, “I think the only ones who are about to act up are you two.”

They eyed each other, and then back to me, “You’re definitely in danger then,” George said as he grabbed my waist.

“Cause it’s already a struggle not to make a move on you sober,” Fred said as he pulled my face to look at him.

I felt all the warmth from the alcohol rise to my face and I hit Fred in the chest, “You two are insane!” I yelled. They smirked and backed off, still eyeing me up and down. The beat to the music dropped and I had the urge to dance. I ran my hands through my hair and began to move my hips. I felt hands grab my waist and could feel George behind me. I began to grind against him, catching Fred’s gaze as he watched. I reached out and grabbed him, pulling him to me. I pressed my chest to Fred as I grinded my ass on George, feeling time slow down.

George moved my hair to the side, and I felt his warm lips graze my neck, sending chills throughout my body. He began to suck on my neck, and I threw my head back- a soft moan escaped my lips, drowned out by the music. Suddenly I felt warm, hungry lips press against mine, sliding a tongue into my open mouth. His tongue played with mine cheekily, before sliding back out. I pulled back to see Fred smirking at me. My eyes went wide and I turned to see George grinning, winking at his brother. _What the fuck is happening._

I chuckled nervously and stepped out of their grasps, “Uh, I think I’ve had too much to drink. I’m going to go to bed, see you guys tomorrow.” They stood in front of me smiling with the most devilish looks I’d ever seen. I backed away slowly, and then took off up the stairs. I slammed my door and put the protection charm on it as soon as I entered.

 _That did not just happen,_ I thought to myself. There’s no way that both of them just made moves on me. No way. I’ve just had too much to drink, and I’m imagining things… right? I laid down on my bed and stared at my ceiling, starting to unbutton my jeans and kick them to the floor. I reached my hand slowly into my underwear only to find that I was completely soaked. _If that was my imagination, that was a damn strong one_.

I closed my eyes as I began to play with my clit, almost feeling George’s lips on my neck and Fred’s tongue in my mouth again. A moan escaped as I inserted a finger, starting slow but soon picking up the pace. I thought of both their hands roaming my body, gripping me as hard as George just had. I added another finger and began to go faster, my wetness becoming audible. The more I thought about the both of them, the more I felt myself building. My moans had become louder, and began to include their names interchangeably. Finally I hit my breaking point, unable to hold myself back any longer, and I grabbed my pillow and shoved it over my face. I was screaming, having found the most euphoric release in imagining the both of them that I’d ever had. The craziest thing was that I felt like it wasn’t so far fetched after what had just happened at the party.

I hoisted my body up under the covers, through the shakes I was experiencing, and found myself drifting off to sleep faster than I could have anticipated. I awoke early the next morning since I had fallen asleep when the night was still young. I rolled over and grabbed my phone off my nightstand, which had become its permanent place other than when I talked with my best friend or my father. I hadn’t checked it in a few days, so the reminder on my phone caused my jaw to drop.

 _I can’t believe I completely forgot that was this weekend._ I began to devise a plan for how I could still make this happen- I wasn’t going to miss the best event of the year. It was only 6:30 am, so I had some time. I got up and sat down at my desk to finish up the rest of my homework for the weekend. After that, I went to take a quick shower and then brush my teeth and hair. I pulled on a comfortable pair of joggers and a sweatshirt, and soon enough it was 8 am so I could go down for breakfast. I was never this early on a Sunday, but I had a plan today. Also, I’m always really hungry in the mornings after a night of drinking.

I was one of the first into the Great Hall, and the absolute first Gryffindor to arrive to breakfast. I sat in the middle of the table and faced the door, eagerly waiting the arrival of any of my friends. Next to enter about ten minutes later was Hermione, with Ron and Harry following sluggishly behind.

Hermione looked at me curiously, “What are you doing up this early? You nearly always skip breakfast on the weekends. And you sure were, erm, having fun last night, so I figured you would be sleeping most of the day.”

“Having fun?” Ron scoffed, “Look at what my brothers’ did to her neck!”

I grabbed at my neck and felt that it was tender. _Fuck George._ I felt my face go red and couldn’t look at Ron, “What- what are you talking about? This is just from quidditch.”

Harry laughed, “Evie, we all have eyes. We all saw what happened with the twins last night.”

“Nothing happened! I mean- okay, that one thing happened, but nothing else! I went to bed immediately after.” I still couldn’t look at them now that I was aware they had saw that happen. _Did everyone see?_ The question gave me a bit of anxiety because I’m sure that would give Katie Bell plenty of talk about since she’d run out of insults after George and I made up.

“Yeah, yeah, well whatever happens with you and George, or Fred, or _both,_ I do NOT want to hear about it!” Ron said.

This time I chuckled and looked up at him, “Why in the world would I ever tell you about anything like that with anyone?”

We all chuckled and enjoyed our breakfast of eggs, toast, bacon, and pancakes. “Anyways, what are you guys doing today?”

Before Harry or Ron could speak, Hermione cut in, “ _They_ are going to be spending the whole day doing homework with me since they’ve bee putting it off all week on the excuse of quidditch. Would you like to join us?”

The boys groaned, but a quick glare from Hermione caused it to stop. “I actually finished all my homework early this morning. I was going to ask if you guys wanted to do something with me, but it’s fine.” I was definitely disappointed, but I’m sure I could get some of the others to come.

Angelina, Alicia, and Lee came down about fifteen minutes before breakfast ended and began to scarf down some food. I asked them, but Alicia replied, “Can’t. Fifth year is kicking our ass. We’re going to be in the library all day, especially because Lee is so behind on homework it’s a miracle he hasn’t been kicked out.”

Lee sneered at her as he shoveled more eggs into his mouth. I decided to ask, “Where are the twins? Maybe I can get them to go.”

They all chuckled into their food. “Well, they definitely wouldn’t be caught dead in the library.”

Lee burst out laughing, “I’m sure they’ll be sleeping most the day after last night. Looks like you three had fun.”

There were loud slurps on their drinks as they tried not to laugh anymore, and I rolled my eyes. “Which room is theirs? I’m going to see if I can convince them.”

Lee mumbled, “I know how you could convince them.”

Alicia hit him in the arm, “They’re in room 106. Good luck waking them up though, those motherfuckers can sleep through anything.”

I wrapped up a bunch of bacon in a napkin and headed up for the tower. It was clear that most people had seen the twins and I on the dance floor last night from some of the snickers and whispers I got as I walked by. It had seemed like we were the only ones there in that moment, but that’s just the alcohol playing tricks. I crawled through the portrait hole and found the common room pretty empty. It seemed most Gryffindors were still recovering from last night’s party. The ones that were in the common room were visibly hung over, and the quietness seemed so strange.

I climbed the stairs and whipped out my wand when I reached 106. “ _Alohomora_ ” I said and the door opened slightly. I walked in and stopped in my tracks. There were three beds: one on the wall across from the door, one on the wall to the left, and one directly across from it on the wall to the right. In the back left corner there was a door that must lead to the bathroom. There were three wardrobes to the left of me pressed against the wall, and one desk next to each of the beds. In the two beds that sat directly across from each other were a knocked out Fred and George.

George was lying on top of his covers with one leg still under them and an arm stretched behind him holding his pillow to his head. Most of Fred’s covers had fallen off the bed, and his pillow was on the floor too, so he had one arm behind his head. Both of them were shirtless wearing red plaid pants. George’s arms looked so muscular, and Fred’s abs were hard not to stare at with the sunlight that was coming in through the window shining on them.

I shook my head and shut the door behind me before walking over to Fred’s desk and placing down the napkin full of bacon. I walked over to Fred and shook him, “Good morning!” He didn’t move or make a sound. I walked over to George and did the same to him, “Hello??” He groaned a little and shifted, but did not wake up. I knew there was only one way that I’d be able to wake them up without seriously injuring them.

I grabbed Fred’s pillow off the floor and raised it over my head before bringing it down hard on Fred’s abs, “WAKE THE FUCK UP!”

I had to beat him with the pillow a few times before his eyes snapped open, “OW! WHAT THE FUCK!”

George rubbed his eyes and sat up a bit, “Can you shut the fuck up over there, Freddie?”

“Not my fault! I’m being attacked by a psychopath!” he yelled glaring at me.

George opened his eyes finally and he smiled, “Morning beautiful, to what do we owe this pleasure?”

“What pleasure? She just beat me with my own pillow!” Fred said as he yanked his pillow from my hands.

“Aw, you mad at me Freddie?” I asked in my most sarcastic baby voice.

“Yes,” he pouted, throwing his pillow under his head and shutting his eyes again.

I stepped back and motioned to his desk, “I brought bacon.”

He peeked one eye open and snatched a piece of bacon, “All is forgiven.”

“Anyways, everyone else is being lame and doing homework today, so I came to ask if you guys wanted to go on an adventure with me!”

George got up out of bed and walked over to get bacon, my eyes trailing down his torso to his abs as he came towards me, “An adventure? What kind of adventure?”

“One that involves partying,” I said with a smirk.

Fred grabbed another piece of bacon, “We do love to party. No way it’d be as good as last night’s party though.”

I laughed, “What if I told you it will be even better?”

They looked at each other with raised brows and then back to me, both saying, “Liar.”

I shrugged, “Oh well, guess you’ll never know. I’ll tell you guys all about it when I get back.” I waved and headed for the door.

“Wait!” George called.

“Where is this party?” Fred asked.

I smirked, “Just get ready, pack whatever alcohol or party favors you need, and meet me in the common room as soon as possible.” I dropped two backpacks on the floor for them and walked out the door, running to my room to pack my own bag. These boys won’t know what hit them.

An hour later the boys met me in the common room and we left, walking out of the castle. We walked down to the edge of the forest and then walked in.

“Oh, breaking the rules are we?” Fred laughed.

“I know we’re not supposed to be here, but it’d just be easier to come back here later since we’ll probably still be fucked up,” I told them.

“You haven’t told us where we’re going,” George said as we trekked through the forest.

We entered a clearing and I looked around, “Yeah this should be good. Here,” I reached into my bag and pulled out some clothes, “Put these on.”

They looked at the clothes in confusion, “Uh, you haven’t given us shirts,” Fred said.

“I know, you won’t need them for this. Now you guys change, I’m going to go behind this tree to change into my outfit.” I walked behind a tree and waited until I heard them undoing their belts to start changing myself. I had given them black joggers, neck bandanas, and kaleidoscope goggles. I was changing into fishnets, black high-waisted bikini bottoms, a neon green top that showed off my under-boob, a neck bandana that matched the boys, my own kaleidoscope goggles, and black combat boots.

I stuffed the jeans and sweater I had been wearing into my backpack and called out to the boys, “You guys ready?”

“Yeah, but I feel like we look ridiculous,” George responded.

I came out from behind the tree and had to keep my jaw from dropping. They had pulled their neck bandana masks up over their noses, showing the skull design, and both of them looked incredible standing there in joggers and black converse with no shirts. “No, trust me. You both look fucking sexy,” I told them as I skipped towards them.

I heard George mutter, “Bloody hell,” as I came towards them. Both of them eyed me up and down and pulled the masks down before Fred spoke, “You’re one to talk! You look so hot! George, you got some drool on your chin.” George wiped his mouth but couldn’t stop staring.

“Okay, ready?” I asked.

“You still haven’t told us where we’re going!” George shouted.

I smirked at him, “Don’t you trust me?”

Fred answered, still staring at my body, “With my life.”

“Then take my hand and hang on tight,” I said while extending my hand.

They looked at each other and then took my hand. I took a deep breath because traveling with more than one other person at this distance was a bit more difficult. Picturing it clearly, I turned and felt myself being squeezed tightly between the two of them. A second later we appeared under a sunset, with the roar of music echoing from all around.

Both of them had fallen over when we arrived, but now scrambled to their feet. “Where are we?” asked George.

“Welcome to Electric Daisy Carnival boys, the only place in the entire U.S. where no-majs and wizards are allowed to interact.” I told them.

Their eyes bugged out of their head, “We’re in the States?!” Fred shouted excitedly, “Where?”

“We’re in Orlando, Florida right now. And this, EDC, is the best music festival in the world!” I couldn’t contain my excitement; this is my one true happy place in the States. The festival is run by no-majs that create the closest thing I’ve seen to magic outside of, well of course, _real_ magic. The MACUSA allows wizards to come even though it’s a no-maj event because of how much stuff seems like magic, no-majs wouldn’t be able to tell what was real and what was not. This is the one place where the ‘can’t do magic within 300 yards of a no-maj’ doesn’t exist, and why we’re able to apparate here without fear of arrest.

“What’s a music festival?” George asked.

I grabbed his hand and Fred’s and we set off onto the grounds. There were five different stages, all with different types of EDM music. They stared in amazement at the carnival rides, the lights, and the performers.

“How are they not getting in trouble for using magic?” Fred yelled in my ear as he saw a performer fly over the crowd attached to a big balloon.

I laughed, “Because it’s not real magic. This is no-maj magic, and they do a fantastic job with it.”

I took them on a few of the rides, which had scared the hell out of them. They were convinced they would break because they couldn't understand how no-majs could defy gravity. We fly on brooms hundreds of feet in the air every day, but a ferris wheel is where they draw the line apparently. We meandered around the different stages, catching a bunch of different sets. They stared at the strobe and laser lights in amazement, though I was afraid they might have a seizure from how much they were staring.

We went to get water; it blew their minds when I explained that their backpacks were actually hydro-packs and could hold water. They spent the next few minutes sucking on the long tube attached that gave them water, and they said their father would lose his mind if he had one of these. We made our way to one of the biggest stages and stood at the back of the crowd for a minute.

I reached into my bag and pulled out three pressed pills. “You guys don’t have to take these if you don’t want to, but I’m definitely going to,” I yelled to them.

“What are they?” yelled George.

“Ecstasy! It makes this even more fun. Again, you DON’T have to take them!” I yelled back.

Before I even finished talking, Fred had grabbed one and popped it in his mouth, sucking down some water quickly. George and I both stared at him, but he shrugged, “What? This is already fun, how could it be MORE fun?”

I popped mine in my mouth, sucking down a ton of water to get rid of the taste. George eyed the both of us and then said, “Fuck it!” He swallowed his, cringed at the taste, and then gulped a bunch of water.

“I don’t feel any different!” Fred yelled.

“You won’t for a little while. Follow me, let’s get as close to the front as possible!” I said as I grabbed George’s hand. Fred grabbed George’s shoulder and they followed me as I weaseled through the crowd. This is my third year here and I’ve become an expert at getting to the barricade.

We finally made it to the rail right as people were leaving from the set that was finishing up, so we had three open spots. I stood between the twins and watched as they took everything in. A DJ called Party Favor was finishing up, and the crowd had been going wild during his set. As the set finished and it headed into a five-minute break, George turned to me.

“Is it over?” he asked.

I laughed, “No! There’s someone else coming on next, they’ll be the last performance of the night. It’s incredible that we’re up front for it!”

Fred leaned over, “What’s this going to feel like?”

“Freddie, you’ll know when it hits you, I promise. It’s like having happiness course through your veins.” I told him.

The lights went down and the crowd cheered. Out came two guys known as Slander- some of my favorite artists in EDM. I couldn’t believe I was standing here, on rail, seeing one of my favorite groups, with two of my favorite people. I couldn’t stop smiling, and I realized at this moment as the music started to build that the drug was indeed hitting me.

I brought both the twins heads towards me and yelled in their ears, “You two are going to need to watch yourself, it’s about to get crazy!”

They looked at me with confused looks, but I put my hands up in the air and prepared. The music hit its peak and I heard the song say “Break your fucking neck bitch!” I grabbed the rail and started head banging, feeling my neck already in pain but not having a care in the world at that moment. Fred and George stared at me in absolute bewilderment, both scared and amused.

“Watch this!” I mouthed to them. I turned around and made eye contact with the girl behind me, reaching out my hand to her. She grabbed my hand and we started head banging together. I turned back to the twins, who looked at each other and grabbed the other’s hand, starting to head bang with each other.

They both laughed, “That was fucking awesome!” I looked at both of their eyes, seeing their pupils extremely dilated. It had hit them, and they looked on top of the world. Through the next few songs, they found their rhythm and head banged over the rail with me on the drops. Almost an hour later, I knew the set was coming to a close soon, and I heard the music start to my favorite song.

“I LOVE THIS SONG!” I yelled

_“I’ve never met someone, met someone like you. I never felt this way, felt this way, ooh. For your love, I would take potions.”_

“Potions?” Fred yelled, “How do they know?”

“It’s a pretty common witchcraft trope in no-maj society Freddie!” I yelled back.

As the song built up to the drop, I felt myself tearing up. The lyrics were hitting me harder than ever before- this is how I felt about these two. I’d do anything for them, take potions, whatever. They’re the best friends I’ve ever had, and the drug was making me extra lovey.

George looked at me, and it was a look as if he had just realized something huge. He brushed my hair away from my face and placed both his hands on my cheeks, cupping my face. Before I knew what was happening, we were kissing as the beat dropped. Our lips moved to the music, opening slightly for our tongues to meet, and then closing again to taste each other’s lips. I pulled back slightly, both of us smiling into the kiss as we continued.

When I pulled away, Fred was glaring at us, “No fair! This shit has made me want to kiss somebody too!”

I laughed and pulled Fred in for a quick kiss, pulling back quickly so as not to make George upset. I turned back to look at him, and he just shrugged and laughed, “I don’t mind.”

Fred took that cue and grabbed my chin, pulling me back to him as he kissed me again. He was much more needy in this kiss, it was like he couldn’t get enough, so I knew he must be really feeling the effects of the drug. He pressed his lips against me harder, pushing his tongue in my mouth and grazing it over mine. I felt him moan into the kiss and had to pull back. _Not here, not again,_ I thought to myself. George and Fred just laughed, and they both put their arms around me as we watched fireworks light up the sky, closing out the festival.

“That was incredible!” George exclaimed as we walked back to where we had come in.

“Okay Evie, you were right, that was the best party I’ve been to. When can we do this again?” Fred asked, grabbing my hand.

I couldn’t stop smiling, seeing the pure joy on their faces was one of the best things I’d ever seen. “They do these a few times a year, we can come to another if you want.”

“Please!” They both begged.

We broke away from the exiting crowd and waited in a field.

“Are we going to apparate back? I still feel pretty, uh, happy to say the least.” George asked nervously even though he was smiling.

I chuckled, “Oh god no, I don’t trust myself while I’m under the influence. No, we’re going to do this.”

I reached into backpack and grabbed an empty jug of milk I’d taken from my dorm. I looked around to make sure we were alone and then took out my wand, “ _Portus._ ”

“Okay, let’s go. Grab on.” I told them. They grabbed the milk jug and we began to spin, within a few seconds we were hitting the ground in a now dark forest.

“I thought portkeys aren’t allowed without authorization?” Fred asked, sitting up from the hard ground rubbing his head.

I sat up, “Yeah, well, the MACUSA and the Ministry can kiss my ass. Besides, it’s not like they’ll find out.”

“Do we have to go back yet? I don’t want to go back to reality.” George said.

Fred agreed, I nodded too, “Fine by me, but I need to change back into my clothes from earlier, I’d recommend you both do the same. Could someone start a fire as well?” The boys nodded and scrambled to their feet. I went behind a tree and began to change back into my jeans and sweater from earlier. By the time I’d finished changing and putting my clothes back in my pack, I heard George say, “ _Incendio_ ” and a fire began to roar.

I came out from behind the tree and a little tent had been set up too. There was a fire going and some logs surrounding it to sit on. “What’s with the tent?” I asked.

George smiled, “Fred brought it just in case, he’s in there making us drinks right now. Oh and here,” he said handing me a joint, “Figured we might as well keep the party going.”

I laughed, “It’s a Sunday night! We have school tomorrow!”

Fred emerged from the tent with drinks in his hand, “Oh who cares! We just had the best night of our lives; I will happily show up tomorrow exhausted. Or I’ll just sleep all day- we’ll see.”

He handed me a drink and we said a ‘cheers’ before drinking. I took a hit off the joint and sat in front of the fire. The effects of the ecstasy were lessening, but I still felt absolutely euphoric. George and Fred were going back and forth talking about their favorite part of the festival, which kept changing minute to minute. Soon I was out of drink, and Fred went to pour more.

When he came back he said, “Why don’t we play a game!”

“Oh no,” I chuckled, “Not another Fred game.”

George laughed, Fred just rolled his eyes, “This is a game you already know: Truth, Dare, or Drink.”

George piped in, “Ah so we’re going to be drunk off our asses, I see.”

“Well not if you just answer the damn question or do the dare!” he retorted.

“Fine Fred! Let’s play” I told him as I took a massive chug of my drink.

“George,” Fred started, “Truth or dare?”

“Dare,” said George.

“You have to play the rest of the game with your shirt off!” Fred yelled.

George scoffed, “Fred it’s fucking freezing out here.”

“Wow, chickening out already I see!” Fred teased.

George glared at him and then began to remove his sweater, exposing his muscular chest again. I did my best not to stare, but it was really hard not to.

“Okay Freddie, truth or dare?” George asked him.

“Dare, duh” he replied.

George snickered, “You have to take your shirt off for the rest of the game too!”

Fred sneered, “Wow, real original! Who would of thought of that?” He took off his shirt too and set it next to him on the log. Now it was _really_ hard not to stare, they’re both so damn fine.

Fred turned to me, “Evie, truth or dare?” I was going to do dare, but seeing as they were both sitting shirtless, I figured I would be next.

“Truth” I replied.

Fred looked at George and then back to me, “Would you ever hook up with both of us?”

“In a heartbeat.” My hand smacked over my mouth so fast. _Why did I say that?_

They both grinned at each other, “In a heartbeat, huh?” asked George, “so you would do it right now?”

“Yes,” I replied. Again, I covered my mouth. I would never have said that normally. I mean, I was thinking it, but I would have drank rather than answer. Why was I answering without a filter? Then it hit me.

“You motherfuckers! You put veritaserum in my drink, didn’t you?” I said, standing up from my log.

Fred laughed, “Guilty as charged.”

I rolled my eyes and grabbed my bag, starting to walk towards the exit of the forest, “I’m out of here.”

“Oh Evie, are you sure?” George asked standing up.

Fred stood next to him, “We aren’t judging you, and we’re down for it too.”

I turned around, knowing my face was scarlet red. My curiosity was getting the better of me, so I walked back over to the fire and set my bag down, sitting down on my log again. They both came over and sat on either side of me, putting a hand on both of my thighs.

“So, do we have your consent, princess?” George asked, holding my chin to look at him.

I nodded my head, feeling the heat growing between my legs with anticipation. Fred grabbed my chin and made me turn towards him, “I don’t know George, do you think she can handle us?”

George nibbled on my ear as he replied, “I think she’ll be a good girl for us.” I let my head fall back and let out a deep exhale. Both of their hands began to roam my body. I felt them both cup my tits as George’s hand moved up my thigh and pressed on the seam of my jeans between my legs.

Suddenly, Fred grabbed me by the throat, “You’re going to do what we say,”

“When we say it,” George added.

“And if you don’t,” Fred said.

“You will be punished,” they said together.

I let out a moan just at the sound of these words, “Understand?” asked George.

I nodded my head, but Fred tightened his grip around my throat, “Answer him properly.”

“Y-yes” I stuttered.

“Yes, what?” Fred said through gritted teeth.

I took a sharp inhale, trying to get control of myself. I could feel how wet I was growing in between my legs, I wouldn’t be surprised if George could feel it through my jeans. “Yes, I understand.” I said firmly.

Fred smiled, “Good girl.” He pulled me by my throat onto his lips while George’s hands went under my sweater.

“No bra, huh?” George noticed, “You’re practically begging to be touched.”

Fred’s tongue parted my lips and met with mine once again. He rolled it over mine, moaning as I kissed him back. I was craving this so badly. The fantasies I’d had about being with them individually, and together, all led to this moment. I needed this, and I couldn’t believe it was actually happening.

In one swift motion, Fred threw me over his shoulder and smacked my ass as he walked towards the small tent. He ducked under it and it opened up into a massive room. There was a living room area, a kitchen, a dining table, bunk beds, and one large bed. He dropped me on my feet and lifted my sweater over my head. George was on my lips immediately, as Fred untied my shoes and took them off me.

George was so ravenous in this kiss it was a side I’d never seen of him before. It was as if my lips were air and he was certain he’d die without them. He and I were so into it Fred smacked my ass and sternly said, “Stop moving.” With both my shoes off, Fred undid my jeans and dropped them to the floor. He picked me up again, pulling me away from George, and threw me on to the bed.

“Lace panties?” he asked, “It’s almost as if you were expecting this.”

George smiled, his eyes taking in every inch of my body. He shoved Fred out of the way and was on top of me, kissing a trail down my body, and leaving marks everywhere he could. Fred grabbed my hand and rubbed against the bulge in his pants. I began trying to undo his belt with one hand, but he smacked it away, “Such a needy slut.”

George had made his way to the edge of my panties, teasing me by licking along the edges. He wrapped my legs over his shoulders; gripping my thighs so tightly I knew there would be bruises. He sucked the inside of my thighs, making me arch my back, rolling myself towards him. He looked at me with a grin, “Beg for it.”

“What?” I asked.

Fred choked me tightly again, “You fucking heard him. Beg for him to taste you.”

“George, please,” I started, Fred gripped my throat even tighter as if to signal it wasn’t good enough. “I need you, please, I’ve fantasized about this for months. Please, I need it so badly, I don’t deserve it, but please!”

George smiled, “Fantasized about it for months huh? Let’s see if it lives up.”

He ripped my panties off with no effort and pushed the flat of his tongue against me. He licked me up and down, then took my clit into his mouth and began to swirl it around his tongue. I cried out, throwing my head back in ecstasy.

“She tastes so fucking good,” he muttered before plunging his tongue back into me. Now he seemed like the needy one; eating my pussy so aggressively, moaning against me as he did, and gripping my thighs harder and harder if I squirmed.

Fred grabbed my face and pulled it towards him, “Suck.” He had stripped naked now, his long member right in front of my face. My eyes went wide; I’d never been with anyone that big. I opened my mouth and took him in, trying to go down as far as possible. I pulled back and swirled his head around my tongue, feeling him flinch from how sensitive he was.

Just then, George inserted two fingers into me as he sucked my clit, causing me to pull my mouth off of Fred and scream. He grabbed a fistful of hair and pulled it roughly, making me look at him, “Who said you could stop?” He forced my head all the way down his length and held it there even though I was gagging. He pushed my head up and down his shaft as George picked up the pace. I was moaning while sucking Fred, and he would moan because of it. I knew I was going to cum, but I couldn’t do anything to react: George had a hold of me that was so tight, every time I moved he gripped me harder, and Fred wouldn’t even let me up for air.

Fred shoved my head all the way down again and I screamed, becoming completely undone, feeling myself release all over George’s face. George laughed and drank up every bit of me, causing me to shake uncontrollably from the sensitivity. Fred pulled himself out of my mouth and grabbed my cheeks, “Open your fucking mouth.”

I did as I was told. “Tongue out,” he said. I stuck my tongue out and looked up at him, and he spit into my mouth. I closed my mouth and swallowed, and he looked at me with adoration, “Aw, what a good fucking whore you are.” He slapped me across the face and then grabbed my legs, flipping me over quickly. “Stick your ass up for me, that’s it darling.” Fred moved behind me and George came around, looking me in the eyes as he stripped off his pants and boxers. My eyes nearly popped out of my head, _George was even bigger than Fred._

Fred rubbed his head against my wetness, slapping his head on my clit, “You’re so fucking wet for us,” he growled. He slowly started to push himself inside of me, and gripped my hips as he pulled me back so he could go all the way in. “Fuck,” he moaned.

George cupped my cheek as I took Fred from behind, stroking the tears from all my gagging away gently, smiling down at me. He then took a fistful of hair and pulled my mouth onto his cock, shoving me all the way down immediately. I gagged and pulled my head back, spitting all over him. “Nice and sloppy, you’re such a good slut.” He kept pulling my head up and down his shaft as Fred absolutely railed me from behind. I was screaming, but the vibrations from my screams on George’s dick only made him start fucking my mouth.

They were both using me for their pleasure, and I was about to explode again from how incredible this moment felt. I’d never been treated so rough, but I was loving every second of it. Fred reached around and started rubbing my clit in circles, pushing me completely over the edge. I felt myself tighten around his cock as I released again, screaming from the base of George’s shaft.

“Oh, fuck, you’re going to make me cum,” Fred yelled. He pulled out and George moved out of the way. Fred grabbed my hair and pulled me to the edge of the bed, shoving his cock in my mouth again. I felt him twitch and felt his load shoot down my throat, him groaning as he released. I licked up and down his shaft, making sure I got every last drop. “Swallow,” he said, pulling my chin up to look at him. I opened my mouth, showing him I had, “Good girl,” he smiled and kissed me deeply, swirling his tongue with mine.

George flipped me aggressively on to my back, and before I could even breathe he was pushing himself deep inside me. “Fuck!” I cried out as I sat up a bit, “George, you’re too fucking big!”

Fred grabbed my throat and slammed me back down on the bed, “You’re going to take it. All of it. And I don’t want to hear a fucking sound.”

George smiled and started pounding me, the smack of his thrusts becoming louder and louder. Fred covered my mouth with one hand, “Not a fucking sound,” he reminded me.

“Look at me,” George commanded, “Look me in the eyes as I fuck you.”

I wanted to scream so badly, but I was scared of what they’d do to me if I did. I bit my lip under Fred’s hand, trying to hold it in. Fred moved his hand and smirked at me, but soon enough I found myself screaming George’s name. George pulled out of me and I whimpered. He choked me and pulled me up to his face by my throat, “What did we fucking say?”  
  
George smacked me across the face and grabbed my hips, quickly laying down and pulling me on top of him. “Ride me,” he demanded. I hesitated, so he slapped my face again, “ride me and show me you deserve to cum again.”

I did as I was told, slowly sliding myself down his shaft, trying to adjust to his size again. I began to rock my hips, gripping my tits as I rode him and throwing my head back. Fred grabbed my head and pushed it forward, “Fucking look at him. Don’t make us say it again.” I looked George in the eyes as I began to bounce up and down. He smirked and began to rub my clit as I rode him, causing me to moan involuntarily.

“That’s it babygirl, I want you to be loud for me now.” He said to me as he added more pressure. I was going to cum _again_. Even in my fantasies, I hadn’t imagined it going like this. Fred had stalked off somewhere and was completely out of sight, now it was just George and I like I had thought of so many times before.

I felt myself getting so close, my moans turning into screams, George rubbing circles on my clit with one hand, and holding my throat making me look at him with the other. Out of nowhere, he put both his hands on my hips and raised me up, starting to thrust into me from below. He was pounding me so hard I couldn’t take it. I screamed his name and fell over onto his chest, and at the same time he yelled mine and thrust himself as deep inside me as he could. I felt his load warm me up inside, starting to drip down his shaft as it mixed with my release.

We laid there for a moment, panting, sweating, and completely in awe. He grabbed my face and brought his lips to mine, panting still between kisses. “You,” he panted, “are unbelievable.”

I laughed, “I could say the same about you.”

We kissed again, “As good as the fantasies?”

“Better,” I replied, pulling myself off of him and collapsing at his side.

We both chuckled again as we wrapped around each other, unable to get enough of the other’s lips. After a minute, I felt a pair of eyes staring at us. I pulled back to see Fred standing there in his boxers with some drinks.

“Need some juice?” He asked.


	17. After

George and I passed out on the bed in the tent after our night together, with Fred finding refuge in one of the bunk beds. The three of us woke up around noon on Monday, and having skipped our morning classes entirely, we decided to take the whole day off. After two days of partying, we felt this was a much-needed recovery from our busy weekend.

After some more rest, we finally got up around 2pm- sitting around our now extinguished fire to smoke another joint before mustering up the strength to pack everything up. Once the tent was packed and we were ready to go, I decided to apparate us into their room instead of having to walk all the way back to the castle. Besides, we were sure people would have noticed the three of us missing by now, and we’d rather not deal with any questions at the moment.

“Alright, I’m going to go shower. I’ll see you guys later,” I said to them as I turned for the door.

“Wait!” George called as he came over, “Mind if I join you?”

Normally I would have rolled my eyes, but after the events of last night, I found myself going completely red in the face. “Uh, not right now, hang out tonight though?”

George pouted a little, but quickly smiled softly and nodded his head. He kissed my cheek and turned back for his bed. Fred had already taken his shirt and pants off and crawled into his for another nap, so I'm guessing his high was wearing off.

After I showered and put my robes on, it was just after 4pm. I felt a bit guilty about missing the two classes of my concentrations today, but mostly I felt bad about missing Professor Lupin’s class. Things hadn’t been the same since the boggarts lesson. What once was my favorite class constantly left me on edge, feeling that at any moment my boggart of George could reappear.

“Ah, Evie,” Professor Lupin said without turning around from the blackboard he was erasing despite me having apparated in, “I was hoping I might see you today. Feeling all right? Harry said you were sick.”

I owe Harry big time for covering for me. “Yes, Professor, I was feeling quite ill earlier. I’m feeling much better now.”

“Or could it be,” he continued, “that you are still uneasy from the lesson on boggarts that you decided to skip my class today?” Now he turned around with a raised eyebrow at me.

While the truth was that I was too hung over to do anything today, his words struck fear in me as the wails of a tortured George came to mind. Everything about that boggart now hurt even worse after last night. Even at this moment, all I wanted was to be wrapped up in his arms again, so the flashback of seeing him tortured was becoming all the more terrifying.

“Here,” Professor Lupin said, standing in front of me now, snapping me back to reality, “Have some chocolate. It’s good for the soul.” I took his chocolate and plopped myself down in a seat, trying desperately to shake the boggart from my mind.

He pulled up a chair in front of me, “You know, your father was also very shaken by the boggarts lesson when we had it in our Defense Against the Dark Arts class. He skipped class once a week for a month afterwards.”

“Really?” I can’t imagine my father afraid of anything. He’s the strongest man I know, and from the stories I had heard of his time here, it seemed more likely that he would skip just because he wanted to roam the halls rather than him being afraid. “What was his boggart then?”

“Well,” Lupin shifted a bit, seeming uncomfortable, “Keep in mind, your father was often teased for not showing much emotion. He was a jokester, but he’s a very put together man, always has been. This was also as the war was ramping up. His boggart was actually a few different things, but it was all the same.”

“What do you mean?”

“His boggart showed up as my body dead on the floor. Then Sirius Black’s, then James Potter’s, then Peter Pettigrew’s, then Lily Potter- well she was Lily Evans’ at the time, then Marlene Mckinnon’s- his greatest fear was losing his friends. Seeing his boggart, he actually broke down and sobbed in class that day, and it was the first time he showed his true emotions.” He was staring out the window as he recalled this memory, as if he could see it replaying in the glass.

“I imagine,” he continued, “that it became your mother once he met her, and then you after you were born. I would be willing to bet that it’s still you to this day, especially considering Anastasia…”

“Did you know my mother as well?” I hadn’t even considered that Professor Lupin knew my mother, for some reason I could only picture him with my father. However, that was a common occurrence considering my mother passed when I was so young.

He looked to the ground and rubbed his hands together, “That I did. She was a beautiful woman- we never could figure out why she was with your father.” We both began to laugh at this, but his serious tone soon returned.

“She was a brilliant and powerful witch. I know many here say you’re much like your father, but I see so much of Anastasia in you. Everything came naturally to her- potions, charms, defensive spells, apparition, and everything she put her mind to. It’s no wonder you are a prodigy, and I’m just truly sorry you didn’t get to see how incredible your mother was.” He looked up to me now, sadness in his eyes that looked almost as if tears were starting to form.

He quickly shook his head and stood up, “Right, well, I’m not worried about you missing class today, but I do ask you not to make a habit of it. Harry should have some notes from today’s lesson, and the homework is just to read chapter 12. Now, we should head off to dinner, I’m getting quite hungry myself.” He turned and walked out the door without looking at me.

I apparated back to my room. Feeling a bit anxious about walking down to dinner by myself, I walked down to the twins’ room and let myself in. As I suspected, they were both still passed out. Fred had, once again, thrown all his covers off the bed, while George was asleep shirtless on top of his sheets. I walked over to him, looking down at his adorable sleeping face. He looked so peaceful, having fallen asleep with the same soft smile he had on his face when I left.

I brushed some of his hair out of his face and stroked his cheek, leaning down to kiss his forehead. His eyes opened slowly, and the smile on his face just got wider. He reached his arms around me and pulled me on top of him, holding me to his warm chest. I looked up at him and was immediately met by even warmer lips.

“What a wonderful way to wake up from my nap,” he said once he pulled back.

I smiled and placed a kiss on his neck; slowly working my way up to his ear, “Want to go get some dinner? I bet you’re starving.”

He chuckled and quickly flipped us over so he was on top of me, “Oh I definitely need to eat right now, but what I want can’t be found in the Great Hall.” He sucked on my neck, causing me to fight to stifle a moan. His hand ran under my skirt and his fingers traced my underwear. He moved down and lifted my skirt, starting to trail his kissed down my thighs.

I grabbed him by his hair and forced him to look at me, “Are you insane? Fred is literally right there!”

“And he’s knocked out cold, what are you so worried about?” he asked.

I stuttered a bit and felt my face getting warmer, “I- I- uh, he won’t be out cold for long if you do this… I can’t stay quiet.”

He smirked at me and came close to my face again, kissing me softly before his hand gripped my throat tightly, “Then this will be fun. You’re going to be my good girl and not make a fucking sound. Understand?”

“I’ll try but I-“ he slapped me across the face and then grabbed my throat again.

“What did I just say? Not a fucking sound,” he growled through his teeth. A small whimper came out as I nodded my head. He grinned and moved down my body again without taking his eyes off me.

He licked the inside of one thigh, then the other, causing a shiver to course through my body. He chuckled a little and moved my thong to the side, licking right at the edge to make me groan in anticipation. Suddenly he smacked my cunt hard, glaring at me while I tried not to scream in pain, “Not a sound. Don’t make me say it again.”

I nodded down at him, trying to get my breathing under control. I glanced over at Fred, who was still knocked out, but I felt so vulnerable in this position with my legs open towards him and his brother in between them.

I felt his warm breath cover me before his tongue slowly ran up and landed on my clit. He became like an animal, completely covering every inch of my pussy in his tongue before closing his lips around my clit. I could feel his tongue twirling around it, causing me to squirm with every move he made. My eyes were bulging out of my head as I tried not to scream from the indescribable pleasure I was feeling. George must have noticed, because his hand then pressed down over my mouth.

He picked up the pace with just his tongue at work, and I felt myself building towards my breaking point. Plunging his tongue into me, licking me up and down, pressing the flat of his tongue against my clit- it was all too much. My body began to squirm even more, completely unable to control myself as I could feel myself about to cum. I couldn’t take it anymore, and I let out a scream into his hand as I released. Feeling my wetness spilling out onto George’s tongue, he hungrily lapped up every bit of me.

I panted hard and he removed his hand from my mouth. I looked down to see a devilish smirk on his face. Just then he took my clit into his mouth again and went even faster. My whole body pulled back because I was so overly sensitive, but with one arm he pulled me back to him and continued. I threw my hands over my mouth as my eyes rolled back into my head, completely drowning in ecstasy.

My body jerked violently at the movements of his tongue, but he was loving every second of it. Suddenly I felt him insert a finger as he continued swirling my clit around his tongue. “George- I can’t- I can’t take it!” I screamed, tears welling up in my eyes, as I was completely over stimulated.

He wasn’t deterred; instead he inserted another finger in me and began to go faster. Within thirty seconds, my whole body began to shake and I couldn’t help but scream his name. He laughed as he drank me up, meanwhile I was unable to breathe and was sweating.

“Oi! Get a fucking room!” yelled a sleepy Fred before putting his pillow over his head.

I covered my face in embarrassment, but George just laughed, “This is a fucking room mate.”

“She literally has her own room right up the stairs, you couldn’t have just gone up a few steps?” asked Fred, still hiding under his pillow.

“Well the moment would have passed then! And I don’t want to hear it, you’ve literally fucked girls countless times while both myself AND Ron were in here you hypocrite!” George yelled as he finally removed himself from between my legs, wiping his mouth and climbing up my body, nuzzling his head into my neck.

“I- you can’t just- yeah okay I have done that a few times,” said Fred in defeat.

“So,” George said, lifting his head from my neck to look at me, “Want to go get dinner now?”

I was still breathing heavy, legs still shaking, but I was insanely hungry now. “Yeah,” I panted, “Just… give me… a few minutes.”

He laughed and kissed me deeply, swirling his tongue with mine so I could taste myself. He dropped his head back to my neck, but then whispered in my ear, “You disobeyed me, and you’ll pay for it later.”

A shiver went through my body as I imagined what he might do to me for disobeying. He had been a lot rougher than I imagined he could be last night, and even more so just now, I wondered what he would be like when we’re completely alone.

Once I finally regained the ability to breathe normally, George, Fred, and I made our way down to dinner. George literally had to drag Fred out of his bed to get him up because he really was trying to go back to sleep again. I’d seen Fred hung over plenty before, but he was more worn out now than he’d ever been- I think a rave the night after a raging Gryffindor party might be the only thing to slow down Fred Weasley.

The hall was mostly full when we walked in, and it seemed all eyes were on the three of us when we came in together. As we made our way to the Gryffindor table, whispers followed us too. We sat in our usual spot near the middle where Harry, Ron Hermione, Angelina, Lee, and Alicia were sitting and started piling our plates since this is the first time we’ve eaten in over 24 hours.

Our friends kept their heads down as we began to eat, it was as quiet as it had been when George and I were fighting at first. “So…” Harry started, “Are you feeling better?”

“Feeling better?” asked Fred.

“Well, we haven’t seen you guys since yesterday, so I just assumed you guys fell ill after all that partying on Saturday,” he said this cautiously, barely able to make eye contact. Ron looked at me briefly with a scowl and then looked away.

“Um…” I started, looking around at the awkward looks on everyone’s faces, “Yeah, we’re feeling better. I wasn’t all that sick, but I’ve been taking care of these two all day.”

“Oh I’m sure you have,” Ron muttered.

I looked at him, unable to hide my annoyance, “Excuse me? What’s that suppose to mean?”

Ron rolled his eyes, “I share a fucking room with them Evie, so if you’re going to lie, you should do a better job of it.”

George glared at his brother now, “Why would she be lying, Ronald?”

Lee dropped his hands to the table, “We all know you three fucked, okay? Everyone knows.”

All three of our jaws dropped simultaneously. I stumbled over my words, trying to contain my anxiety, “Wh- what? That’s crazy. Why would everyone think that?”

“Because you were seen Evie!” Hermione shouted.

Fred piped in now, “Seen? Even if this were true, which it’s not, how in the world could anyone have seen?”

Alicia looked over at him with a sullen look, “Katie Bell.”

“What?” he asked.

Angelina looked up now, “Katie Bell said she saw a light coming from the forest last night. Apparently, she walked out there and found a fire, a tent, both of your shirts sitting by the fire, and some interesting noise coming from inside the tent. She said she only popped her head in for a second to confirm what she thought, and then she came back here. She ran into the common room last night and told everyone.”

“That- that’s a crazy story, do you guys really believe that?” I asked the group, but the rest of them shrugged.

“Look, all I know is you guys weren’t at any meals yesterday or today until this one, and my brothers did not sleep in their beds last night. I don’t know what to believe.” Ron was glaring directly at me, looking madder than I’d ever seen him.

I shrank back from my plate; my appetite had completely vanished in an instant. No matter what any of us said, the whole school now believed I was the slut that got with the twins at the same time. This felt even worse than the rumors that I had used George just to make the quidditch team. I got up from the table and began to walk towards the exit, shock on my face as I tried to tune the world out. I just barely heard George yell, “Evie don’t go please!” but I couldn’t bring myself to turn around.

Right before I reached the end of the table, I tripped and fell flat onto my face on the floor, still dazed with shock. There was laughter all around, but I looked up to see a smug face looking down at me with an outstretched leg, “Watch where you’re going, slut.” Katie Bell turned to her friends and laughed with them.

I didn’t even think I just reacted. Before I could stop myself, my wand was pointed at her and out came, “ _Anteoculatia._ ” Antlers popped out from her head, and she screamed at the top of her lungs. The laughter grew and began to roar around me, but I wasn’t laughing, all I wanted was to get out of here. I closed my eyes tightly and felt the squeeze, and when I opened again I was sitting on my bed.

It wasn’t long before my door opened on its own, but instead of George like I expected, it was Professor McGonagall looking rather pissed off.

“Are you going to explain to me why you thought it was appropriate to curse another student? Especially one of your own house?” she scowled at me.

Before I knew what was happening, tears were flooding my face, “I’m sorry Professor, I didn’t mean to! She’s been spreading nasty rumors and talking horribly about me all year. Now she told another horrible rumor to the whole school and called me a slut, so I just reacted out of anger. I know I shouldn’t have, but I couldn’t help it.”

Her face softened a little bit as she took in what I was saying, “Well, I’m sorry to hear that has been happening. Unfortunately, I do have to punish you for this. You will serve detention with me every Friday night until the end of term next month. I’m sorry Evie, but my hands are tied.” She exited my room, and the second she shut my door I fell into sobs.

I ran to the door and put the protection charm on it, not wanting anyone to see my like this. Not long after McGonagall left, I heard George trying to open my door.

“Evie? Please let me in. Please?” he pleaded.

“Go away George,” I responded coldly.

He sighed, “Please, we don’t have to talk. I just don’t want you to be alone.”

I walked over to my door and cracked it slightly, turning my back to it and flinging myself face down on to the bed so I didn’t have to look at him. I buried my head into a pillow as I heard the door shut. I felt the bed move as he sat down, then his hand began to rub my back ever so gently. I tried to keep it together, but melted under his touch and found myself sobbing again.

He grabbed me and pulled me on to his chest, holding me tight as he continued to rub my back. He never said a word; just let me cry until I couldn’t anymore, and held me the entire time. He was stroking my hair when I felt myself begin to drift off to sleep. The last thing I felt was his lips on my forehead, and a soft whisper that said, “It’s all going to be okay, I promise.”


	18. Easy

The next month was the worst I’d had all year. The rumors about the twins and I lingered for at least three weeks, with the whispers of ‘slut’ following me around every corner I turned. I told Fred and George they had to stay away from me during the school day just so people would maybe start to forget. It was such an annoying double standard: both of them were praised for the rumor, being told they were gods by the guys, and girls were acting extra-flirtatious as if they wanted to know firsthand if the rumor was true. Meanwhile, I got dirty looks and slut-shamed by most everyone for being the girl who might have actually experienced it- the hypocrisy was infuriating.

The twins and I had taken to a nightly routine of apparating back to our spot in the forest to smoke and actually hang out since we couldn’t during the day. It was always a nice getaway, and even though it was only a fifteen-minute walk from the castle, it still felt like our own private world. Fred had become a bigger whore than ever since the rumor started to spread since girls were practically throwing themselves at him, so he had a story for us every few days about a new hook up of his.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think I may need a break from sex,” he said one night in December.

George and I looked at each other and then back to him. “Like that’s bloody likely,” George laughed, “you say that now, but just wait till we get back tonight and Marietta Edgecombe is waiting in front of the Fat Lady _again_.”

“Oh Marietta, she’s quite a time,” Fred smirked.

I rolled my eyes at him, “We know. Ravenclaws are your new obsession at this point.”

“They’re just so interesting!” he exclaimed, “They seem quiet and reserved, but I swear each one I get with is freakier than the last.”

“Yeah,” I started, taking a deep inhale from the joint, “well I’m surprised you’re not disease stricken at this point- you’re going to make your way through the entire University at this rate!”

I passed Fred the joint and he took a hit, “Aw, is somebody jealous? I could always make time for you love, just say the word.” He winked at me as he exhaled the smoke, his eyes starting to droop from the high.

“Ha! I’ll pass. Besides, George is loads better than you in the sack anyways,” I teased, winking right back at him. George nearly fell off his log laughing.

“You’re biased! You liked him to begin with! Anyways, if he’s so good, why haven’t you two fucked since?” Fred asked while passing the joint to George.

“Because, dumbass, we can’t have any more suspicions when we just got the rumor to die down. And she and I leaving the room together the morning after will do nothing good for us right now.” George said, finally taking a long, deep hit off the joint before exhaling it through his nose. I swear, that man is most attractive when he’s smoking- I don’t know what it is.

“Just make it official and date already, then no one could say anything bad. The worst that would happen is I would get shit on since she chose you over me!” Fred chuckled.

I felt the warmth in my face begin to radiate as I thought of George being my boyfriend. I’ve wanted it for a long time, and I believe he has too, but neither of us had ever brought it up before. I looked over to George and saw he was red in the face as well, grinning and unable to make eye contact with me.

“I just don’t know how Ron would take it,” I reminded them, “He and I have been weird ever since that rumor started. I know in the past he kind of assumed I would date George, and seemed cool with it, but the way he reacted to that rumor I just don’t know. He’s one of my best friends, and I don’t want to make him hate me.”

“To hell with our brother!” Fred yelled, “You two are great together, and you both seem at your happiest when you’re with each other. You’re telling me that you’re going to let my idiot little brother get in the way of that? He’s just jealous!”

“Thank you for that impassioned speech Fred, but if Evie and I are going to date, it will be on our own terms.” George interjected, passing me the joint.

I took a hit, “Let me just feel things out with Ron before anything happens, I don’t want to go behind his back.” They both nodded, and George’s face was still as red as his hair. _So he does want to date me_ , I thought to myself as we finished up the joint. George and I had so much fun together as friends; it made me wonder how it could get any better than this.

We apparated back to the castle, into their room first. Ron wasn’t there, as expected, which meant he was probably down in the common room. I was feeling mellow and confident at the moment, so I wanted to talk to him now.

“I’ve got the munchies,” Fred said as he walked towards the door, “I’m going down to the kitchen to grab some snacks. George, Evie, you coming?”

“Actually, I think I’m going to go talk to Ron. Bring me back something sweet though, would ya?” I asked.

George wore that big grin again, “Anything for you darling, see you in a bit.” He kissed my cheek, causing me to wear a smile as big as his. I waved as I turned on a dime, appearing a second later in my room. I still couldn’t be seen leaving their room, especially not with the both of them.

I paced about my room for a few minutes, trying to think of what I could possibly say to Ron. We had never even talked about the rumor, he just kind of avoided being alone with me at this point. I figured I should probably start there.

I made my way down to the common room, and as anticipated, Ron, Harry, and Hermione were sitting in their usual spots by the fire doing homework. I made my way over to them, feeling my heart start to thump even harder in my chest.

“Hey Evie,” Harry said, smiling up at me from the couch, “Looks like you’re having a good evening.”

“What?” I asked, which just caused him to snort with laughter.

Without looking up from the piece of parchment she was writing an extremely long essay on, Hermione interjected, “He means your eyes. You’re squinting again.”

“My brothers, I assume,” Ron muttered from his chair.

I turned to look at him, smiling as best I could with all the nerves I was feeling, “Ron, can we talk? Privately?”

His eyes went wide and he looked up at me in fear- perhaps he was afraid I’d curse him for all his snarky comments over the past few weeks. Taking a big gulp, he gathered his books and parchment together before nervously squeaking, “Y-yeah. Sure, let’s talk then.”

I scanned the room for a place to sit. I thought for a moment about just going up to my room to talk, but I saw Katie Bell staring at me from one of the other couches and the last thing I needed was her thinking I went off with another Weasley. I picked an empty table at the back of the room and made my way over, Ron following slowly behind.

“S-s-so…” he started as he shifted uncomfortably in the wooden seat, “what did you want to talk about?”

“Well, I want to be completely transparent and honest with you.” I was looking him in the eyes, but his seemed frantic not to look back.

“About what?”

“About my relationship with your brothers,” now he looked at me with the same fear he had displayed by the fire, taking another big gulp before I continued. “The rumor… it was true, and I’m sorry if it upset you. It was a one-time thing, and my curiosity had gotten the better of me. It hasn’t, and will never, happen again.”

His face twisted as he processed, “Both of them Evie? Disgusting! It was already weird enough thinking about you dating George, but fucking both of them _at the same time_?”

“Hey! Don’t tell me that you wouldn’t be curious if there were hot twin girls that were down for it with you!” I felt myself getting irritated by the hypocrisy. I knew guys always fantasized about those types of things, but Merlin forbid it be the other way around.

“Well, that’s just, that’s completely besides the point. And don’t call my brothers hot!” he said back to me, getting flustered.

“Look, I just want us to go back to normal. I want this to stop being weird between us. It happened, it’ll never happen again, can’t we just move on? I’m coming home with you all for Christmas and the last thing I want is for things to be weird around your parents.” I had been getting increasingly more nervous as the holiday break approached, and as we were only a week away from going home, I needed Ron and I to be okay again.

He was struggling with himself, but he finally made eye contact with me again, “As long as it never happens again and I never have to hear about it.”

I exhaled and smiled at him, “There’s just one more thing… um, would it make things weird between us if I dated George?”

His eyes went wide, “What?! You’re dating him now? What about Fred?”

I rolled mine, “I told you it was a one time thing dammit! I never liked Fred; it was just curiosity. Besides, he’s annoying as hell. You know I’ve liked George all term, and we’re not dating yet, but we are talking about it. I told him I wanted to talk to you before anything because you’re one of my best friends Ron, and I don’t want to go behind your back.”

He bounced his knee up and down, chewing on the inside of his cheek as he thought it over, “I mean, I did expect you to date him already by this point, so I’ve been prepared for it. Just, same rules apply, I don’t want to hear about your private activities.”

I laughed, “Just as before Ron, _why_ would I tell you about that anyways no matter who it involved?”

He and I both laughed, and I finally felt the wave of relief wash over me. No more awkwardness between us, or snarky comments under his breath, I finally had one of my best friends back. Knowing that he wouldn’t resent me for dating George made me smile uncontrollably- George and I were finally going to be together.

Ron and I walked back over to the fireplace to sit with our friends still laughing. I took Ron’s chair by the fire while he joined Harry and Hermione on the couch. Harry looked up from his textbook, “Finally friends again?”

“Hey!” Ron said, “It’s not like we ever weren’t friends.”

Hermione laughed, “That’s comical considering you haven’t been able to look in Evie’s direction for more than two seconds for about a month now.”

I laughed with her and Harry, but Ron kind of sulked a bit, which meant everything was definitely back to normal. Just then a pastry fell into my hands and I felt warm lips against my cheek.

“Chocolate éclair for you, beautiful,” George said as he crouched down next to my chair.

I instinctively got up and motioned for him to sit down, sitting myself back down on his lap as his arms wrapped around my waist. I was a couple bites into my pastry before I turned to see the three of them staring at us with open jaws from the couch.

“I thought you said you weren’t dating yet!” Ron said loudly.

George chuckled, “Oh ease up, Ronald. We aren’t, that is, unless you want to be darling?”

I felt my face go red again, but Ron whined, “Well don’t do that here!”

“Hey,” I said while looking around, “Where’s Fred?”

George rolled his eyes, “Where do you think?”

“ _Marietta Edgecombe_ ” he and I both said together.

“That Ravenclaw girl?” asked Harry.

“Ugh, not again,” Hermione said under her breath.

George raised one eyebrow, “Again? What is it Granger?”

She slammed her book closed and stared into the fire, “I was getting some work done at the library the other day and when I went to go return a book to it’s proper shelf in the back, I had the misfortune of stumbling upon them.”

“Bloody hell, in the library?!” Ron groaned.

“I know! It’s completely inappropriate and disrespectful!” she shouted.

Harry, George, and I, however, couldn’t hold it back any longer and lost it. Our laughter made Hermione, Ron, and at least half the common room, glare at us.

“Has Fred ever respected the rules even once?” Harry asked through tears from his laughter.

Hermione and Ron both began to chuckle before the five of us found ourselves roaring with laughter again. George was burying his head into my neck to hide the fact that he too was crying from laughing so hard. For the first time in a month, I felt completely at peace and no longer scared of what people may think, and I began to feel tears streaming down my face for this very reason.

As our laughter died down and tears were wiped away, George lifted me into the air, carrying me bridal style. “If you’ll excuse us, I believe it’s time I whisk my lady away,” he jeered in an overdramatic old English tone.

Before they could say anything, George was running towards the stairs with me as we both laughed like school children. Right before we made our way up the stairs, however, I caught a glimpse of Katie Bell staring coldly right at us.

I woke the next morning wrapped in George’s warm, strong arms. As I turned to look at him, he was already awake and smiling at me. “Good morning beautiful,” he said in his deep morning voice before planting his even warmer lips on mine. “Merlin,” he continued, “I can’t tell you how long I’ve wanted to wake up to you like this.”

It was so hard to want to leave bed, but I knew we had to. “Go on then,” I told him, “go get ready and I’ll meet you in the common room.”

“Or,” he said, dragging me closer to him in bed, “we could just skip the whole day and stay cuddled up in here.”

I laughed while shoving him off me, “As nice as that sounds, it’s the last week of classes for the term and I know you must have as many exams, papers, and projects as I do.”

He whined, “But that’s no fun, this is a lot better!”

I ripped the covers off of him, “I’m not disagreeing with you, but one of us has to be the responsible one, now go!” I hit him with a pillow, which just caused him to grab me and pull me on top of him. We wrestled and rolled around the bed for a minute before he had both my arms pinned under him and a devilish grin on his face.

He kissed my neck and started to trail his kisses down my body. Knowing exactly what he was doing, however, I grabbed him by his hair, “Nice try, now go get ready or you’re not going to be getting any until after the holidays.”

His eyes widened and he quickly leapt out of bed, running for the door while fumbling to hop into his pants, and just residing to throwing his shirt over his shoulder, “I’m going! I’m going!”

Before I was even done getting ready, I heard my door open again, and peeped out of the bathroom to see George sitting on my bed in his robes waiting for me. “Have I ever mentioned how sexy you look in your uniform?” he asked as I came out of the bathroom.

I walked over to the wardrobe to put my shoes on. Feeling his eyes watching me intently, I bent over slowly to grab my shoes, making sure to subtly flash him my cute, red, laced thong underneath my skirt. I heard him take a sharp inhale as I turned around to look at him with my own evil grin, “Everything okay?”

Before I even blinked, he had hopped over the bed and had me pinned to the wardrobe by my throat, “You’re playing a dangerous game, Princess. You think I can’t see what you’re doing?”

I smiled up at him, “I don’t have _any_ idea what you’re talking about.”

“Oh really?” he asked, quickly running his hand under my skirt and pressing his thumb hard against my clit through the lace of my thong, “Then you showing me these was just an accident then?”

A soft whimper escaped me while I tried to keep my game up, “Mhm, a complete accident. How conceited of you to think it was anything else.”

He growled and flipped me around quickly, pressing my chest against the wardrobe as I felt his large bulge press against my ass, “I should fuck you right here and now. I should make you beg for permission to cum on my cock. But you know what I’m going to do instead?”

I couldn’t help but moan this time, I could feel how wet I was growing in between my legs. It’s not just that I wanted him so badly now; I _needed_ him. I loved this side of him, his unsuspecting dominant side- I craved it. “Please, what are you going to do?”

I could feel him smirk as he put his lips right next to my ear, running one of his hands under my skirt to grip my ass. He pulled himself off me and gave it a hard smack that made me yelp. He laughed to himself before I heard him plop down on the bed, “Absolutely nothing.”

“What?” I whipped around quickly to look at that evil smile of his.

“Oh princess, it’s obvious. You want me so badly; otherwise you wouldn’t be teasing me like this. I’m not going to play into your game and give a brat like you what you want. You’re going to have to earn it.” He put both his hands behind his head and winked at me.

I walked towards him and dropped to my knees in front of him, starting to fumble with his belt quickly before he slapped my hands away, “Ah, ah, ah. Such a needy slut. No, you’re going to have to be a good girl and wait.” He got up from the bed and fixed his belt that I had partially undone, starting to walk towards the door.

“Well,” he said as he reached the door, turning around to look at me still on my knees, “aren’t you coming to breakfast darling?”

Just fifteen minutes ago I had told him no, and now somehow he had flipped it around on me and had me begging. I was starting to think that any control I had over him, was simply because he let me have it, and he could flip the switch at any time. I pulled myself off the floor and brushed myself off, grabbing my backpack as I walked over to the door and took his outstretched hand- intertwining my fingers with his.

The rest of the week gave me the pounding that George wouldn’t. I had an exam in every one of my classes with my concentrations having both a written exam and a practical. The chart I did for my Arithmancy written exam wasn’t hard, but in the practical I got mixed up on the values of 6 and 9 and chose the wrong counter-curse. Defense Against the Dark Arts went a lot smoother in both written and practical, and I was finally able to face my boggart which Lupin was extremely proud of it seemed.

Alchemy was the easiest of my sub-concentrations as we just had an easy written exam since most of our focus at the moment was in the required Transfiguration and Potions classes. Transfiguration had a practical exam of turning a teapot into a tortoise, and a project on the five exceptions to Gamp’s Law of Elemental Transfiguration with the proper method of addressing these exceptions.

I was convinced that Snape was trying to kill us. Not only did we have a written exam and a practical, but we also had a project and the longest essay we’d had all term. Our project had to be on the most important ingredient in potions and why (which apparently, every one of us was wrong because none of us did our project on bezoar). Our essay had to be three rolls of parchment on undetectable poisons and _how_ to detect them. Forgive me, but if they were detectable, _I don’t think they would be called undetectable poisons_. The written exam was simply writing out the recipe for Shrinking Solution from memory, and the practical was following that recipe to create it. That wasn’t hard for me, but I did feel bad for Seamus, who managed to cause an explosion with his.

By the time Friday came around, I managed to sleep through both breakfast and lunch since I had no classes, and term was technically over for me. George had actually been studying quite a lot because his workload was just as bad as mine, if not worse. He often acted like he didn’t care about school, but I was convinced he was secretly afraid of not passing his OWLs and disappointing his mother. Angelina and Alicia had been forcing Fred, Lee, and George to study and do their work in the library every night until it closed at midnight, and then they’d stay in the common room working until well past 3 a.m. Because of this and my own work, George hadn’t slept over except that one night, so I was beside myself that we got to sleep together tonight before heading to the Burrow for the holidays tomorrow.

I found myself extremely nervous about going home with the Weasley’s for the holidays. Harry was going to be there too, so it’s not like I’m the only outsider, but Harry has stayed with them before and they love him. Besides, with George and I in limbo right now, and probably about to date officially, I wondered how he would act around his parents. Would he introduce me as his girlfriend? Would he pretend I don’t exist to not create suspicion? Would we get any time alone there? The whole thing caused me a world of anxiety.

By the time dinner came around, I was starving and excited to see everyone. It had been such a quiet week with everyone facing the stress of end of term assignments; it was so refreshing to see the Great Hall lively again. Students talking and laughing loudly, parties planned for that night to celebrate the end of term, it was a contagious joy that covered the air.

“And I couldn’t turn the bloody guinea fowl into a guinea pig! It just turned into the head of a guinea pig with the body of the fowl.” I heard Ron whine about his Transfiguration practical as I was sitting down.

“Well at least you didn’t make a stupid mistake like I just did on my Ancient Runes exam!” wailed Hermione, “I was moving too fast and put in the wrong translation, it’s driving me mad!”

Ron rolled his eyes, “Oh shut up Hermione, you’ll probably get a score that’s somehow better than perfect like you always do and this whining will all have been for-“ he stopped midsentence and looked around for a minute, “Hang on, how could you have taken the Ancient Runes exam just now when we just took our Transfiguration exam in the same room?”

Hermione looked down before adding some more food to her plate, “Did I say just now? I meant yesterday afternoon.”

“Wait,” Harry chimed in, “We had Alchemy together yesterday afternoon how could you have-“

“Evie!” she interjected, “How were your exams?”

Taken off guard by this, I kind of stammered, “Oh- I just- well I didn’t have any exams today, but this whole week has been like hell. I’m sure I messed up in my Arithmancy practical and I’m sure Snape will find a way to fail me, but I’m just happy to be done with it all.”

“You should of seen her in Defense Against the Dark Arts on Wednesday,” Harry said.

“Yeah!” Ron shouted with a bunch of chicken in his mouth, “She knocked Professor Lupin off his feet stunning him- he must of flew halfway across the classroom!”

I blushed a bit at their compliments as we heard loud whistling coming into the hall, only to turn and see Fred and George completely beside themselves with joy. They ran over and hopped in their seats.

“We finished all our work and passed all our exams!” George said.

“What?” asked Hermione, “How do you know you passed?”

Fred grinned and returned a small vial into his robe pocket, winking in Hermione’s direction.

“You used veritaserum on your professors?! You could be expelled for that!” she roared through a whisper.

George scoffed, “They’ll never know! I’ve gotten quite good at memory charms.”

Hermione took a deep breath, clearly about to lay in to him, but George turned to me instead and completely ignored her, “So beautiful, what do you say we go to the Three Broomsticks tonight and then crash a few parties? I hear Ravenclaw is going to be insane tonight.”

“Is it really crashing if your twin is fucking half of Ravenclaw?” I jeered.

Fred chuckled across the table, “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

“So what do you say?” George asked me again.

I groaned, “Ugh I can’t, I have my last detention with McGonagall until midnight.” I couldn’t believe I was going to miss out on one of the most fun nights of the year all because of stupid detention. I mean, I guess I did deserve it for cursing Katie Bell out of anger, but it still wasn’t ideal. The one upside was that Katie had received two Saturday detentions with McGonagall for the rumors she started, so that felt good.

George pouted for a moment, and then smiled, “Well, no matter, the parties will still be going then! I’ll meet you outside Ravenclaw tower at 12:30?”

I smiled, “Perfect, I can’t wait.” Maybe the night wouldn’t be a total bust after all. Sure, most of it would be in detention, but I’d still get to party some after. Not only that, but George has kept me waiting all week from his tease on Monday, so tonight should be incredible.

After dinner, I said goodbye to my friends and made my way to Professor McGonagall’s class. Walking in, her classroom looked a mess from all the practical exams that had gone wrong. There were feathers, hairs, and mysterious liquids all around.

“Ah, Miss Goddard, right on time. So, for the first part of your detention, you’re going to clean the classroom- _without magic_. After that, I’ll get your help organizing all my written exams, practical scores, projects, and essays into alphabetical order in their correct year.” Cleaning the class without magic sounded awful, especially consider that I had no idea what these liquids were, but it honestly just made the time go faster. By the time I sat down to start organizing the schoolwork, three hours had already passed and it was nine o’ clock.

The organizing made time go even faster, and by the time I finished, it was already 12:15 and past the time my detention was supposed to end.

“I’m sorry Miss Goddard, I completely lost track of time,” Professor McGonagall said as I handed her the organized stacks, “Thank you for your help, and have a wonderful holiday break.”

“Thank you Professor!” I bolted from her class and started running towards Gryffindor tower, however as I started to get winded I realized I was a complete dumbass for running in the first place. I took a breath and focused, feeling myself appear a second later in my room. I was going to be late to meet George, but I’m sure he would understand. I rifled through my wardrobe, looking for something that would drive him wild so we’d head back to my room early. I finally settled on a tight black dress with cutouts on the side. I threw on some black booties and grabbed my tiny, black, cross body purse, shoving my wand into it quickly as I made my way for the stairs.

“Bloody hell,” Ron said from the couch in the common room. Harry and Hermione whipped around, Harry nearly drooling as he looked at me, causing Hermione to hit him.

“You look beautiful Evie,” Hermione said as she shot Ron and Harry death glares.

“Are you guys going to the party?” I asked them.

Ron scoffed, “Fred and George wouldn’t invite us, said they didn’t want their little brother embarrassing them.”

I rolled my eyes, “That’s crazy, just come with me. George won’t turn you away if you’re with me.”

“Well especially not with you looking like that,” Harry muttered.

Hermione hit him again, and then beamed with excitement. She ran upstairs to change quickly while the guys just shrugged and said they were happy with what they were wearing. She returned wearing a cute blue dress, and the four of us made our way through the castle and over to Ravenclaw tower.

“Where did George say he’d meet you?” Hermione asked as we got closer to the door.

Just then the door opened, but it wasn’t George. A random Ravenclaw boy stood there and stopped as he eyed Hermione and I up and down. He grinned and opened the door for us, giving Ron and Harry a weird look though. The party was insane: they had cool lights, alcohol everywhere, and their ceiling was the stars and galaxies it looked like- somehow it looked even better than the ceiling in the Great Hall.

I scanned the room looking for George, only to spot Fred standing on a table of course. He was dancing to the music, biting his lip as he began to take off his shirt. A bunch of girls stood looking up at him, screaming like banshees when he exposed his abs. I rolled my eyes and walked over to him, hitting him on the leg.

“Oh want a piece of me now, do you?” he yelled down at me, slurring his words a bit.

“In your dreams Fred, now where’s George?” I yelled back.

He shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know, I haven’t seen him in a while.”

I walked back over to my friends and shrugged, not sure where he could be. We walked over to the table and got drinks, downing them and grabbing more before hitting the dance floor. I’d never seen Hermione loosen up like this, but I suppose since the term was over she could finally relax.

Harry and Ron seemed to be feeling themselves, actually dancing around more wildly than I’d seen, which continued to increase as we all drank more. It’d been nearly an hour at this point and I still hadn’t seen George even once. I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see a girl with very blonde hair, almost as blonde as Draco’s, smiling at me.

She leaned in to yell in my ear over the music, “Aren’t you the girl that’s dating George?”

“Well, we aren’t official or anything, but yeah kind of,” I yelled back.

Her smile seemed to falter a bit, “You better come take a look at this.”

I turned to Hermione and the boys, who all looked at me with wild eyes. They followed behind as she dragged me by my hand through the crowd. “Where are we going?” asked Hermione.

“I don’t know, this girl said it’s something about George,” I replied.

“That’s Loony, I mean Luna, Lovegood, I wouldn’t trust a word she says,” she yelled in my ear, loud enough that I was sure Luna would have heard.

Luna took us to the back of the room and into this corridor, where there were a ton of couples making out. She pointed towards the back and then stepped aside, allowing the four of us to squeeze past the other couples. It was hard to see, as it was dark, so I quickly grabbed my wand from my purse, “ _Lumos_ ”

There were groans from all the couples around at the light, all except one. Completely oblivious, there stood George with Katie Bell wrapped around his waist, making out still. Katie finally caught the light and followed it to my face, pulling herself off of his lips to smirk at me, “Looks like we have company, Georgie.”

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, my jaw was ajar and I seemed to have no way of moving it. Behind me I audibly heard Hermione gasp, and Harry and Ron had gone eerily quiet.

“George, what the fuck?” I asked him.

George had been kissing her neck and hadn’t looked at me yet. He turned around, still holding her up around his waist, and then gently put her down, walking towards me. “What?” he asked, looking as if he were confused as to why I was mad.

“What the fuck are you doing making out with _her_?” I yelled at him, unable to keep my anger in.

George laughed, “I love her Evie, I always have. You were just easy- a fun way to pass the time, but now that I know Katie has feelings for me, its over.”

“So you’re saying everything between us, it’s all been a lie? Do I really mean nothing to you?” the tears were welling up in my eyes, but I didn’t want anyone to see.

George looked me up and down before settling back on my eyes, “Less than nothing. I love Katie. Like I said, you were just easy.”

The last thing I heard was Ron yell, “You foul git, I’m going to beat the shit out of you!” before I found myself sitting on the floor in my room. I never apparate when I’m under the influence, and I didn’t even realize I had, but in that moment all I was thinking about was wanting to be alone in my room.

Now that I was alone, though, it seemed that all the tears had gone. Instead I just stared blankly at the wall, trying to process what I’d just witnessed, but it just didn’t seem real. It wasn’t until Ron, Harry, and Hermione stood in my doorway, Ron with a swollen and rapidly darkening eye, that I completely lost it.


	19. The Other Brother

I woke up to loud banging on my door. It was still dark outside, the fire was still burning though starting to dwindle, and I felt a pounding headache from all the drinking and crying I’d done. I groaned and rolled over, accidentally hitting someone in the face next to me.

“Ow, that really hurt Evie,” Hermione whispered.

There was more loud banging on my door. A head popped up over the loveseat, “Will you all shut the fuck up, I’m trying to sleep!” came a sleepy roar from Ron.

The banging came again- somehow even louder this time. “Guys, please shut it, this chair is already uncomfortable enough,” moaned Harry, who was curled up like a cat in one of my armchairs by the fire.

The bang came again, and all three of them groaned. “Fine,” I started to drag myself out of bed, “I guess I’ll get it.”

I tapped the screen on my phone to see that it was 5:26 a.m.- _who the hell is banging on my door at this hour_? I yawned and rubbed my eyes as I meandered to the door, the banging becoming louder and harder as I approached.

“This better be fucking good for waking me up at this hour,” I spat as I opened the door. My eyes adjusted quickly to see George standing in my doorway, looking an absolute mess. He was still wearing the same red, striped, button-down shirt he had been wearing earlier, only it was partially unbuttoned and had stains from spilled drinks. His hair was a wreck, as if he’d been trying to pull it out. His face was red and sweaty, or had he been crying?

“Can we please talk?” he couldn’t look me in the eyes. He was just staring at the ground, frantically moving his eyes back and forth.

I couldn’t believe the audacity this boy has. “I think you said everything that I needed to hear tonight, now leave me alone.” I tried to shut the door, but his hand stopped it.

He looked me in the eyes, and now I was sure he was holding back tears, “Please, Evie, let me explain myself. I didn’t mean what I said. Hell, I don’t even know what I said! Please, let me come in.”

“Don’t know what you said? Yeah, I’ve blacked out from drinking before, and I never found myself making out with someone and confessing my love for them while technically seeing someone else. Fuck out of here.” My blood was beginning to boil. He’s just going to show up at my door in the middle of the night to tell me he has a drinking problem? _Fuck him_.

“No, no, no, that’s not what I’m saying,” he started to push his way through the doorway, but I held my ground and wouldn’t let him through. “Please, just five minutes, if you still hate me then fine, but just let me explain.”

“Oi!” came a deep voice behind me, “She said she doesn’t want to talk to you, now get the fuck out before I force you out.” I turned around to see Ron staring down his brother, looking like he was ready to fight. In the soft glow of the fire, his eye looked a lot worse than it had earlier. The whole socket was black and purple, swelling nearly shut around his eyelid.

A flare of anger rose across George’s face, “What the fuck are you doing in my girlfriend’s room?”

“I am NOT your fucking girlfriend,” I snapped at him.

George’s anger evaporated for a second at the sting of my words, then reappeared more fiercely, “We have one fight and you go and fuck my brother?!”

“Are you really that dumb?” came a soft voice. Hermione was sitting up on my bed now, obviously not going to get any sleep with this conversation going on.

George looked around for the source of the voice before he settled on Hermione’s figure behind Ron, the anger starting to leave his face as he realized. Harry rose from his chair, “We stayed with her all night while she cried over you. You’ve got a lot of nerve showing up here after what you did.”

“Was fucking Katie Bell worth it, Georgie?” Ron jeered.

George rolled his eyes, “I didn’t fuck her! And what the fuck happened to your face, Ronald?”

Ron laughed in a way that scared me. I knew he was trying to contain his anger, but he seemed to be doing a poor job of it, “What happened to my face? You seriously do have a drinking problem if you don’t remember punching me as hard as you did.”

George’s jaw dropped and he pulled his hand over his mouth, shaking his head a bit as if to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. “I’m sorry, what? You’re saying I did that to you? Why the hell would I punch you?”

“We’re not here to help you fill in the gaps from your blackout, George, now would you just leave already or am I going to have to make you?” Ron said, stepping in front of me to get in his face.

George sighed and then looked straight past him to look at me, “Please, Evie, let me explain myself.”

I turned away from him, tears welling up in my eyes again, “I hope you and Katie are _very_ happy together.” I turned back towards the bed, just wanting to go back to sleep before I spent another hour crying so hard that I couldn’t breathe or make any noise at all.

“She fucking drugged me! She put a wicked strong love potion in my drink, that’s the only reason any of this happened! Evie, please, you have to believe me. I can’t lose you!” George yelled. I stopped in my tracks, a few tears already falling down my face. _So he doesn’t love her? It was just because of a love potion?_ I shook my head, not letting these fantasies sway me.

“You’re fucking pathetic,” I told him, “If you’re going to lie, you should at least make it sound believable.”

“Get lost, George,” Ron spat as he slammed the door.

“Wait! I’m not lying! Please, I’ll do anything! Evie, please!” his muffled voice yelled from the other side of my door.

Ron quickly put the protective charm on the door before turning to look at me, “Are you okay?”

“Mhm,” I nodded my head, doing everything to hold the tears back so they wouldn’t have to deal with more of my crying.

Harry sighed as he walked over and brought me into a hug, “No you’re not, and that’s okay.”

I gasped for air as the tears came barreling down my face. I found myself hyperventilating into Harry’s chest as Hermione rubbed my back. _What did I do to deserve such incredible friends?_

Four sleepy students boarded the Hogwarts Express later that day and headed for King’s Cross Station. This was my first time on the train since I had apparated to school the first time around, so it was weird to be traveling with everyone now. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been on any form of transportation other than the car my father and I shared in the States.

We found a cabin to ourselves towards the back of the train, and were soon joined by Ron’s sister Ginny and the blonde haired girl from the party, Luna. I was grateful that Luna had showed me what was going on with George, but looking at her now, it was all I could think of. She had been looking out for me, telling me, so why was I feeling resentful? I suppose it was because if she had never shown me, then I would have ignorantly gone along until George broke the news some other time. It was better, however, to rip the band-aid off and just get it over with, so I should really be thanking her.

I took a deep breath and swallowed my conflicting feelings. “Hey Luna,” she looked up at me from the upside down Quibbler she was reading with a dazed smile, “Thank you for what you did last night. I appreciate you looking out for me.”

“Oh, it was really quite sad to witness. I’m sorry it happened that way,” she said this so cheerfully it threw me off. She shrugged and then went back to her upside down reading.

Ginny leaned in towards me now, “I’m sorry my brother is a complete ass and did that to you. I’m going to beat the shit out of him when I see him.” Ginny and I hadn’t really been all that close. I mean, we’d exchanged a few words here and there, but she didn’t really spend time with Harry, Ron, Hermione and I, or the twins. I was hoping she and I would get closer over the holidays, so maybe we could bond over our mutual desire for violence against George.

“I wouldn’t try that, Gin,” Ron retorted, “You see what he did to my face.”

Ginny giggled, “You fight like a girl, Ron. I would actually be able to land a hit, you tend to just flail your arms.”

Our cabin burst with laughter, all except Ron and Luna that is. Ron muttered to himself that he fights better than a girl, and Luna was just simply immersed in her reading. Harry, Hermione, Ginny, and I, however, were absolutely beside ourselves howling with laughter. Harry retold the story of Ron trying to fight George last night, saying it was the equivalent of a first year trying to fight Hagrid, when there was a tap on the door.

My heart dropped to see a tall redhead boy standing there, only to realize a second later it was Fred. This, however, was not much better considering I had a hunch about why he was here. He opened the cabin door and squeezed himself next to Ginny, staring me right in the eyes.

“You know why I’m here,” he said plainly. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him look this serious before, I didn’t think it was possible for more than ten seconds honestly.

I huffed, “Fred, save your breath. My issue isn’t with you, and I’d rather keep it that way. I’m not interested in whatever George has sent you here to say.”

“You can tell George he’s dead when I see him,” Ginny sneered.

Fred looked down at the ground, maintaining this serious persona, “Look, I know you all think George acted like a terrible ass,”

“He _did_ act like a terrible ass,” Hermione corrected him.

“But it’s not what you think, he really was drugged. I saw it happen. George was standing over near the door, waiting for Evie, when Katie Bell walked up to him and handed him a drink. At first he refused, but they started talking some and he took it. As soon as he took a sip of that drink, he was all over her. I thought it was weird, and I was going to say something, but I was a bit distracted myself. Towards the end of the party, George came up to me and was looking for Katie, and he got really angry when I questioned him on it. I knew something was wrong, so I took him to Madam Pomfrey. She said he was lucky he only took a small sip because it was apparently the strongest love potion she’s seen.” He finished and looked up at us. I looked around and saw the looks on everyone else’s faces, even Luna’s; they looked both serious and confused.

Unable to mask my emotions, however, I began to laugh uncontrollably. “Wow,” I said as I wiped tears from my laughter, “that is so well put together, how many times did George have you rehearse that before he sent you here?”

“What?” Fred looked at everyone else before meeting my gaze, “Evie, I’m not lying, that’s really what happened.”

I snorted, “Sure, yeah, that’s a good one Fred. You were literally slurring your words last night and were nearly blacked out yourself- there’s no way that happened. Now why don’t you run back to dear old Georgie and tell him he’s still a pathetic ass no matter how many versions of this story he makes up? Thanks baby.”

Fred rolled his eyes, “You know what? Whatever. I tried. Enjoy being miserable.” He slammed the cabin door shut behind him and stormed off down the hall.

“You really think he’s lying, Evie?” Hermione asked softly.

“Of course he is. George is just in denial about his drinking problem and he’s trying to save his own ass. Using Fred though, the least credible source I can think of besides Draco Malfoy, is a really dumb move. And why would Katie Bell use a love potion on George? None of it makes sense.”

Hermione pondered over it, “I guess… but she has been making your life difficult ever since you took her spot of the Quidditch team. I’m just saying I wouldn’t put it past her.”

“I doubt she's capable of brewing an effective love potion. Either way, George was a fucking asshole and what he said was so hurtful, he can’t take it back.” There was a collective sigh from the cabin, all except Luna, as the train continued to charge towards London.

We arrived in the early evening at the station, over a thousand students flooding out onto a strange platform numbered 9 ¾ all at once. We hugged Hermione goodbye as she head off towards her parents, two very sweet looking no-majs, who were apparently going to be vacationing in France for the holidays as they had fallen in love with it over the summer. Hermione was excited about returning to France because she loved learning about the French way of magic, however it made me wonder how strange it must be for her considering her parents were both without magic.

As Harry, Ron, Ginny, and I wandered around the platform looking for their parents, I heard Ginny squeal with excitement. “No way!” she exclaimed as she ran straight ahead, abandoning her trunk entirely, “What are you doing here?” She jumped up to hug a tall redheaded man with long hair. He was dressed in all black, a long black leather coat, and had what looked like a dragon’s tooth dangling from an earring.

Standing next to him was a short redheaded woman with a smile on her face, and next to her was another tall redheaded man, this one much older though, who was looking around the platform. “There are just too many of you dear,” the woman said, “We needed help in getting you all home.”

This must be their mother, so I began to feel myself getting extremely nervous. My heart was racing, I knew my face was becoming a scarlet red, and my hands were sweating on my trunk handle.

Ron groaned as he dragged Ginny’s trunk, “Here Bill, take this since Ginny doesn’t know how to look after her own stuff apparently.”

Bill laughed as he hugged his sister, taking the trunk from Ron. He looked at Ron’s black eye with curiosity, and then his eyes naturally went to Harry’s scar, before settling on me. He grinned as he looked me up and down, stepping towards me with an outstretched hand, “I don’t believe we’ve met, I’m Bill.”

Mrs. Weasley stepped in front of Bill and brought me into a hug, “Geneviève, dear, so excited to finally meet you! We are just so happy to have you for the holidays, it’s a shame your dad can’t join us though, how is he?”

“Oh,” I was surprised to hear her ask about my father, “He’s doing well, I just spoke with him the other day. Out on business of some sort over the holidays, though he won’t tell me what.”

There was a laugh from the older redheaded man, who I assumed must be Mr. Weasley, “Ah, sounds just like your father. I remember when he started at the Ministry, was always the secretive type. Would never tell you what he was doing until after he had succeeded in it. Ambitious man he is. Wonderful to finally meet you, Evie.”

Mrs. Weasley went on to speak to Harry, as Bill looked me up and down again. “So you’re the famous Darren Goddard’s daughter?”

“I guess that would be me,” I chuckled nervously. I was so intimidated by him not only because he was so much older, but also because he was so attractive. I couldn’t look him in the eyes very long otherwise I would feel my heart start to race again. _Is this whole family just ridiculously attractive?_

“I heard that Ron would be bringing a friend who was interested in being a curse-breaker, but I did not expect you,” he said with a smirk, “I have a feeling we’ll get along just fine.” He shot me a wink as he turned back to his sister.

“Ronald Weasley! Have you been fighting? Where did you get that black eye?” Mrs. Weasley yelled in a high pitch voice. The families passing us by shot us a look as they continued down the platform.

Ron gritted his teeth, becoming visibly irritated, “Why don’t you ask George.”

Mrs. Weasley snapped in my direction, “What did you do to your brother?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” came a deep, agitated voice behind me. I nearly jumped out of my skin as I turned around to see George with serious bags under his eyes- it looks like he hadn’t slept at all. He looked down at me before turning his gaze quickly towards his father, who was shaking his head.

“Well we _will_ be talking about it once we get home! Now, where on earth is Percy? We need to go!” Mrs. Weasley said as she looked around the platform.

Fred laughed, “Probably still saying goodbye to his _girlfriend._ George and I saw him snogging Penelope Clearwater on our way over here!”

Mrs. Weasley shifted uncomfortably and straightened out her dress, “I- I didn’t know Percy was seeing someone. How lovely. I just wish he would be considerate of his mother who still has a rather large dinner to cook!”

“I’m here, I’m here! Sorry about that, uh, Head Boy duties. Had to make sure no one was left on the train,” Percy stammered as he ran towards the family. I looked at Ron and Harry, who were trying to hold in a laugh; while Fred was biting his lip so hard I’m sure it would bleed.

Fred lost his battle internal battle and blurted out, “Hm, didn’t realize Head Boy duties included snogging the Ravenclaw Head Girl.”

Percy shot Fred a furious look as he turned red in the face. They began to argue, Percy saying Fred never respected his privacy, and Fred saying Percy needs to remove the 4-foot stick that’s been up his ass the past 24 years.

“Enough!” yelled Mrs. Weasley, “We are going to have a nice holiday together, as a family, so I want you all to keep this nonsense bickering to a minimum! Now, follow Dad so we can get home quickly!”

Mr. Weasley turned on his heels and walked down the platform. Eventually, we stood in front of a brick archway and he turned back to look at us. “Now, wait for my signal, and come through two at a time.”

Without another word, Mr. Weasley walked straight towards the brick wall and then disappeared. _What in the world?_ Suddenly, a hand poked through the wall and motioned forward.

“Ron, Harry, you first!” Mrs. Weasley shouted from the side. Ron and Harry looked at each other, and then ran towards the wall with their trolleys, disappearing just as Mr. Weasley had before. I blinked and rubbed my eyes, trying to understand where they could have gone.

The hand came through and motioned forward again. “Alright, Percy, Ginny, you next! Come on then!” Ginny ran towards the wall with her trunk, but Percy just strolled behind with his trolley.

“Excuse me, Mrs. Weasley?” I asked sheepishly, “How does this work? Is it painful?”

She turned her head slightly, “I’m sorry, dear? Didn’t you do this at the beginning of the year?”

I looked down at the ground, afraid to make eye contact with her for some reason, “Oh, no ma’am, I just apparated on to the platform.”

“Apparated on to the Hogsmeade platform?” I heard Bill’s shock behind me, “From the States? You must be wicked gifted.” He smiled at me, but I just looked back towards the ground as I felt myself blush.

Mr. Weasley’s hand came through again. “Alright, Bill, you take Evie through, show her how it’s done.”

Bill grabbed my trunk from me and put his arm around my shoulder, “I got you, and it won’t be painful at all.” We broke into a brisk stride towards the brick and I closed my eyes tight, afraid of smacking into it. I heard the sound of a train whistle and opened my eyes again to find that the entire platform had changed, and we were now between 9 and 10.

“See? That wasn’t so bad!” Bill said to me, squeezing me a bit tighter with the arm that was around me. Just then, Fred and George came through the wall with their trunks, and George stared directly at Bill’s arm around me. Bill must have noticed because he removed his arm right after. I reached for my trunk, but he pulled it away from me, “Ah ah, I got it. Don’t worry.”

Mrs. Weasley came through the wall and started counting all of us. “Ten! Alright everyone, let’s go home.”

“Did the Ministry give us cars this time? It’ll take ages to get home!” Ron whined.

Mr. Weasley shot him an annoyed look, “No Ron, we’ll be getting home a little differently this time.”

We traveled through the station until we came across a smoking area that had no one in it. Two men in grey coats and black hats stood on either side of the door. Mr. Weasley gave them a nod and then walked in, holding the door for all of us to come through.

“Are they part of the Ministry?” Ginny asked.

Mr. Weasley nodded, “They’re just here to protect us on our travels home.”

“How are we getting home then?” asked Percy.

Mr. Weasley looked around and checked to make sure we were all there just as Mrs. Weasley had. “Everyone let go of your belongings now and take a step back.” They did as they were told, Bill letting go of my trunk and stepping closer to me when he did. Mr. Weasley waved his wand, and with a flash of light, all our trunks and pets disappeared.

“Now then,” Mr. Weasley continued, “Out of an abundance of caution, we will be traveling by apparition. As you all know, Sirius Black is still on the loose, and the Ministry felt it would be safest to travel this way. Right, so Molly, Bill, and I will pair up with you all and take you by side-along, and Percy you can go ahead and apparate yourself home since you know how.”

Percy smiled before there was a loud _crack_ and he disappeared. Mrs. Weasley grabbed Ginny and they disappeared, while Mr. Weasley grabbed Harry and disappeared with him.

Bill turned to me now, “I feel like you should be the one taking me home if you’ve apparated from the States,” he laughed.

I chuckled with him, “Well, I would if I had seen the place before, but since I haven’t I guess I’m going to have to hope that you don’t fuck it up.”

He laughed even harder before leaning closer towards me, “Don’t you trust me?”

I blushed, but this time I didn’t break eye contact, “I guess I’ll have to.”

He smirked and grabbed my hand, intertwining his fingers with mine. The last thing I saw before I felt the squeeze was George’s face, looking at us with the same look he had the night he beat up Malfoy.

The next second I was standing in a warm, cozy living room where a fire was roaring. There was a wooden rocking chair where needles and yarn were knitting itself, a broom that was sweeping itself across the floor, and a basket of laundry on a the coffee table that was folding itself.

“I’ll be right back, make yourself comfortable,” Bill told me before he disapparated. I turned to take it all in; the place wasn’t very large, but it felt like a home. There was a long table in the kitchen already set for ten, a knife and cutting board that was preparing vegetables, and a magical sponge was scrubbing pots in the sink. While I was taking it all in, I almost completely missed the very long hug Harry was giving Ginny.

There were two pops and Harry and Ginny jumped away from each other, Harry running into the living room next to me. Mrs. Weasley appeared with Ron while Mr. Weasley had Fred. A few seconds later came another pop and Bill appeared with George, who shoved Bill away from him the second they arrived.

George marched straight for the stairs, and was already making his way up them when Mrs. Weasley called out to him, “George Fabian Weasley! You explain right now why you gave your brother a black eye!”

“I don’t want to talk about it!” George yelled down before slamming a door shut.

Mrs. Weasley turned to Fred with a scathing look. “What are you looking at me for?” he cried, “I was drunk, I didn’t see it happen!”

She brought her fingers to the bridge of her nose, breathing deeply and tapping her foot before turning to Ron, “Why did your brother punch you?”

Ron, Harry, and Ginny looked to me, and I looked Ron in the eyes with the best pleading look I could give without being too obvious. The last thing I wanted right now was for Mrs. Weasley to know that George and I had been somewhat of an item up until last night; the whole situation would be weird. She’d be disappointed at what George had done, I’m sure, but she’d also be uncomfortable with the fact that I was the one he’d done it to.

“He was just drunk and said some really rude things, so we got into it. Not a big deal.” Ron retorted, unable to look his mother in the eyes.

“Argh! I swear! You boys and the drinking! You have to stop before you mess something up real bad!” Mrs. Weasley yelled as she walked off towards the kitchen.

Mr. Weasley, however, came around the corner into the living room at that very moment with a glass of Firewhisky in his hand. “Well, lucky for me I haven’t ruined anything just yet!” He chuckled lightly which caused all of us to laugh. Fred, Bill, Harry, and Ron joined him in a glass as well, while Ginny and I enjoyed a glass of wine. Percy had already stalked off to his room even though we had asked him to join us. We sat in the living room, sharing with Mr. Weasley and Bill some highlights of first term.

“You should see this girl on a broom!” Fred bragged. “She’s the best chaser we have, she knocked out the Slytherin captain in our opening game against them. It was one of the best things I’ve seen!”

“Don’t forget when she made McLaggen wipe out in tryouts!” Harry reminded him.

I blushed and tried to hide my face, I wasn’t very comfortable with them bragging about me. I mean, sure, I was pretty decent on a broom, but to say I’m the best chaser? That’s just the alcohol talking- it has to be.

“An apparition prodigy, incredible quidditch player, one of the best students in your class, and you’re beautiful? The world better watch out for Evie Goddard,” Bill said, taking a sip of his drink without breaking eye contact with me.

“Stop, stop, stop. You all are too much. I appreciate your compliments, but really I’m nothing special. Especially not compared to Hermione, or Ginny here, they’re both brilliant.” Ginny blushed and hit me in the arm as I said this; Fred brushed it off and said I was being too modest.

Soon Mrs. Weasley called for dinner and we made our way to the table. Percy came down from his room, but George did not. Fred went up there to try and get him, but he returned saying he was already asleep. The nine of us sat down and enjoyed the best chicken potpie I’d ever had in my life. I felt like I could cook well, but this was unbelievable. It sounds cliché, but it really felt like it was made with a mother’s love- something I hadn’t experienced in a long time.

“All right, off to bed then, all of you! I need lots of help around the house tomorrow getting ready for the holidays, so be sure to get your rest tonight! Harry, I already put a cot in Ron’s room, and Evie, I did the same in Ginny’s. Percy, you and Bill will be sharing your room.”

“Ugh,” Percy groaned, “I’d rather sleep in the attic with the ghoul than share a room with him! He stays up nearly all night and listens to that horrible band The Weird Sisters!”

“Ha! You wouldn’t last ten minutes with the ghoul, let alone a full night,” Bill teased.

Percy rolled his eyes and straightened his posture, “We’ll see about that!” and with a loud _crack_ , he was gone.

The rest of us made our way towards the stairs, but I felt a hand grab me before I started up after Ginny. “Hey,” Bill said, “We can talk tomorrow about what I do as a curse-breaker if you’re still interested.”

“Oh,” I had completely forgotten that this was the entire reason I was here, “Yeah, I’d love that actually. I’ve really been enjoying my Arithmancy classes, but I’d love to hear about firsthand experience.”

He smiled at me and squeezed my hand before letting go. I turned around quickly and ran up the stairs after Ginny, trying not to lose her on these zigzagging steps. I saw her stop on the third landing and walk through the door, so I picked up the pace to get through and shut the door behind me.

I was taking deep breaths by the door when I heard Ginny giggling behind me. “What’s so funny?”

“It’s working, you know,” she plopped down on her bed and kicked her shoes off, still giggling to herself.

“What’s working?”

She looked over at me with a grin and then rolled her eyes, “Your plan to make George jealous with Bill, it’s working already.”

“What? I- I wasn’t trying to do that at all! Bill’s just being nice, it’s nothing more.” Is that really what they’re thinking? Bill definitely wasn’t flirting with me, and I wasn’t flirting with him… _was I?_

Ginny just laughed some more, “Well, if this isn’t a plan of yours, then I’d watch it. Bill is definitely being more than just nice, and George has noticed.”

“That’s crazy Ginny, Bill would never be interested in someone like me. Besides, I couldn’t do that to George.”

“Why not? He was an absolute dick to you! He said really, really horrible things. You don’t owe him anything. And if a guy I liked did that to me? I’d make him pay for it.” She put her arms behind her head and closed her eyes.

As George’s words from last night came flooding back into my head, my blood began to boil again. I did want to make him hurt as badly as he hurt me, but could I really do that with his own brother? “Wait, these are your brothers you’re talking about. Are you sure this isn’t weird for you?”

“No way, this is some entertaining holiday drama that is better than anything they could make up on the telly. I’m just excited to have a front row seat. I say if Bill tries anything, go for it. And I know my brother, he’ll definitely try something.”

I sat down on my cot next to her bed. _Bill_ _might try something on me?_ Part of me was screaming at myself to stop thinking about this, stop fantasizing about getting with George’s hot, older brother. Do I actually want to get with him because I’m attracted to him? Or do I just want to get back at George? On the other hand, _fuck_ what George thinks; I’m going to have fun.


	20. Biggest Fear

Right as the sun was coming up, Mrs. Weasley came through the door of Ginny’s room. Two cups and a teapot were following behind her as she ripped open the curtains in the room. “Morning girls!” she sang. The teacups floated towards Ginny and I, so I sat up to receive mine. The teapot flew over to me and poured some tea. “Would you like any milk or sugar with yours dear?” I nodded my head, and with a whistle and a snap of her fingers, a bowl of sugar cubes and a small glass of milk flew into the room. A floating spoon dropped two sugar cubes into my cup before I raised my hand, and just a dash of milk before I was taking a sip. _Holy hell this tea is incredible._

“Now girls, if you don’t mind, I need your help down in the kitchen preparing breakfast for you lot. Ginny, you go get the eggs from the chickens, and Evie I’ll ask you to fry up the bacon if that’s alright?” I could tell she was both excited and a little overwhelmed with her very full house. With five children at school, and two sons that work abroad, it must be a dramatic shift to go from quiet to, well, all of us except Charlie of course. Ron had told me that it’d been ages since he came back from Romania on holiday- he must really love those dragons.

Ginny groaned as she hoisted herself out of bed, “Why can’t you ask any of the boys to do it? Why do we have to? That’s a bit sexist Mum.”

“I really don’t mind,” I interrupted, trying very hard to make a good impression, “I love to cook. I’d be happy to help.”

Mrs. Weasley smiled and then glared at Ginny, “At least I have one woman in this house willing to help dear old mum! Just come on down when you’re ready dear, and Ginny, I better have eggs in the kitchen in fifteen minutes.”

Ginny groaned again as she set her tea down and stretched her arms, “I’m sorry about this, it’s not like the boys aren’t capable of it.”

“Really, I don’t mind. I cook back in my dorm all the time, it’s one of my favorite hobbies honestly.” She tilted her head and looked at me funny, but instead of pressing the issue she downed her cup of tea.

Ginny and I got dressed and headed downstairs. I just decided on wearing the Gryffindor sweater my father had given me with jeans and vans, but this house was so warm I wasn’t sure how long I’d last in the sweater. In contrast though, Ginny grabbed a big coat from the rack at the bottom of the stairs and made her way outside. The cold air rushed through the home, and my concerns about my sweater rushed out with it.

“Ah, Evie dear, wonderful. Right over there is the bacon, and I already put a pan on the stove for you.” With a flick of her wand, a fire lit under the pan.

I waved my hand over the pan and felt for the heat, which was rapidly growing. I pulled a piece of bacon from the packaging and laid it upon the pan, quickly laying three more so they’d cook at the same time. I searched for some tongs to flip the bacon with, and found some in the sink. As soon as I picked them up, however, they flew out of my hand and hovered next to me. I reached for them again, but they dodged my hand. After at least a minute of struggling, I trapped the tongs between my hands and returned to the bacon.

As I began to flip them over, Mrs. Weasley gasped, “What are you doing dear?”

“I’m cooking the bacon?” Oh gosh, how have I gone wrong already.

She laughed a bit to herself and the mixing bowl that was stirring muffin batter next to her, “Dear, you’re cooking the muggle way.”

“Oh.” No wonder those tongs had fought me so hard. “Well, I cook like this very often. It’s kind of a hobby for me, I’m sorry if I’ve offended you.”

“Merlin no! You haven’t offended me at all! That’s quite adorable and fascinating that you cook that way, Arthur would be beside himself to see that- you’ll have to show him how you cook while you’re here.” She smiled as she turned back towards the counter, waving her wand so a muffin tray flew over to her.

“I’d be happy to cook for you all while I’m here, Ron loves when I cook for him at school.” At this she turned and looked at me curiously.

“You cook for Ron at school?” she asked.

“Well I cook for him sometimes, Harry and Hermione too! They love some of the American food I make for them, and I bring them American no-maj snacks which they are constantly amazed by.” I had cut it close far too many times by apparating back to the States to get them things like Cheetos, Doritos, Cheez-It’s, Oreos, you know, the typical American snacking experience. They absolutely loved whenever I would do it though, claiming those snacks tasted so different and delicious, but I didn’t have the heart to tell them it’s because of less regulation and extremely unhealthy additives.

A grin came across Mrs. Weasley’s face, “So, are you seeing my Ron then?”

“Seeing Ron? What do you- OH! Oh, oh no, no ma’am I’m not seeing Ron,” I was tripping over my words as I felt the room get hotter, “He’s one of my best friends! He’s wonderful! I just, I don’t see him like that.”

I turned back to my pan and removed the bacon quickly, placing it onto a plate to cool off, before placing four more pieces on the hot pan. The tongs in my hand wriggled until I let go, snapping at my face before tending to the bacon. Mrs. Weasley sighed, “Forgive me for assuming dear, I’m so happy to hear you and Ron are such great friends.”

Ginny came in the door and placed a basket full of eggs on the counter, “Next time, make one of the boys do it. I got pecked so many times!”

“Maybe this will encourage you to actually learn the summoning charm so you don’t have to go through that anymore!” Mrs. Weasley called out to her as Ginny ran up the stairs.

As Mrs. Weasley and I finished up breakfast and the table began to set itself, the front door flew open and blasted us with cold air. “Now careful!” yelled Mr. Weasley, “If anything in this house gets broken, your mother will kill me- Oh, good morning love! Didn’t see you there.”

Mrs. Weasley rolled her eyes as she placed a basket of muffins and a large plate of eggs on the table. Percy came through the door with his wand pointed out the door, and then a large tree came through, with Bill on the end of it keeping it afloat with his wand as well.

“Boys, over here!” Mr. Weasley motioned for them to float the tree through the living room. “Now hang on, let me assemble it.” He waved his wand and a tree stand and skirt wrapped around the bottom. “Steady, steady, there.” The boys had lowered their wands gently, and now a great Christmas tree stood tall. Mr. Weasley waved his wand again, and lights, ribbon, and ornaments flew upon the tree, with an angel flapping its wings and soaring to the top.

“It looks marvelous dear,” Mrs. Weasley cooed as she planted a kiss on his cheek. She took a few steps over and called up the stairs, “BOYS! GINNY! BREAKFAST!”

“It smells amazing Mum,” Bill said as he brought his mother into a hug.

She beamed, “Well I can’t take all the credit, Evie made all that bacon! Oh and Arthur, she was cooking the _muggle_ way! And she prefers it that way too!”

“You will have to show me while you’re here Evie, I love all things involving muggles!” Mr. Weasley said as he took a piece of bacon.

Bill grinned as he took a bite of bacon, “Well look at that, muggle cooking hasn’t poisoned us. You just keep getting more and more intriguing.”

I heard footsteps coming down the stairs, so I grabbed Bill’s hand and pulled him to sit next to me. He smirked at me, grabbing my hand back under the table when I pulled it away. Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Fred came barreling down the stairs and clamored to find seats at the table. George trailed behind them, keeping his eyes down as he approached a seat.

“It’s so lovely to have everyone at the table for a meal together, I do wish Charlie were here,” Mrs. Weasley said as she sat down at the end of the table.

Fred blurted out through a mouthful of muffin, “I wish he’d bring a dragon home just once, but he says I’m never allowed around his dragons.”

“Can’t imagine why,” Ginny said sarcastically.

“Damn, I think we’re out of milk,” Mr. Weasley said as he stirred his tea.

Still anxious to make a good impression, I stood from the table, “Oh hang on then!” I turned on my heels- I still had at least half a carton of milk in my fridge at school that I knew would go bad in the next week. I was back in a moment, appearing directly behind Mr. Weasley’s chair with my remaining milk, “It’s not much, but I do hope this makes your tea better.”

Mrs. Weasley, Mr. Weasley, Bill, Percy, and Ginny stared at me in bewilderment. Ron, Harry, and Fred, however, were just laughing to themselves as I made my way back to my seat. George wouldn’t look at me at all.

“Simply amazing, Evie! You definitely take after your parents!” Mr. Weasley beamed as he topped off his tea with some milk.

“You boys are out of your mind, I can’t believe none of you have tried to date her! She’s so nice, talented, and beautiful, what is wrong with all of you?” Mrs. Weasley looked at all her boys around the table. George turned red and kept his head down, but I recognized that smirk on Fred’s face.

“It’s not a lack of trying for some of us,” he said as he loudly sipped his tea. I whipped my wand out under the table and threw a silent leg-locker curse at him, his legs snapping together so quickly that it made quite a loud smacking sound. “Fuck that hurt!” he groaned.

“Fred! Language!” Mrs. Weasley shouted at him.

“I- I didn’t- she-“ Fred glared at me across the table, but I was already glaring back at him, daring him to say another snarky comment around his mother. “Sorry Mum, school habit.”

“Well it’s no wonder why Evie would never go for you with that mouth of yours,” she mumbled as she grabbed a muffin.

“Oh you’d be surprised,” Fred winked at me across the table, but all I was thinking about was how I could use the silencing charm on him without anyone noticing.

My attention was brought back to the table when Bill put his hand on my thigh, leaning over to whisper in my ear, “Cursing my annoying brother and impressing my parents? You’re quite a catch.”

I blushed and looked across the table, George was staring now and had his fist clenched so hard I could see his knuckles turning white. I laughed a little too loudly and pushed Bill playfully, “You’re so funny Bill, you crack me up.”

George stood up from the table, grabbing a coat from the rack and storming outside. Fred stood up quickly as well, completely forgetting about the leg-locker so he fell onto his face immediately, “FUCK!”

The rest of us laughed, but Mrs. Weasley was not laughing with us, “Language! Quit messing around Fred!”

Fred was waving his wand with the counter-curse as she berated him, glaring at me as he pulled himself off the ground. I just smirked and took another bite of my bacon, winking at him as he pulled on his coat.

“You and George work on de-gnoming the garden, do you hear me Fred Weasley?” she yelled as he walked out the door.

“Yes, yes, I heard you! I heard you! We’ll get on it!” Fred threw his hands up, annoyed at being assigned chores on his holiday.

Mrs. Weasley rolled her eyes and flicked her wand towards the door, causing it to shut abruptly. “Harry, Ron, you two go out there and help them in the garden after breakfast, understand?”

Ron groaned, but a quick glare from his mother evoked a muttered ‘yes ma’am’ from him and Harry both. Bill turned to me, squeezing my thigh again to get my attention, “So, looks like we have the day to discuss curse-breaking and anything else we can think of. How about after breakfast we-“

“Oh no you don’t!” Mrs. Weasley shouted. “Evie and Ginny will be going with me to the market to help me with the groceries for tomorrow’s Christmas dinner. You and Percy will be cleaning up the hen house and then cleaning up the yard- we never did cut the yard before winter and now the grass is long and wilted.”

Percy nodded his head but Bill complained, “Mum, she’s here to learn about curse-breaking from an actual curse-breaker.”

“And she will have plenty of time to talk to you after all the chores are done,” she retorted.

“But I have to go back to work soon!” he pushed her.

Mrs. Weasley shot him a terrifying scowl, “William Arthur Weasley, you will do as I say and help with these chores today. You don’t go back to work for at least four more days. Now, I don’t want to hear another complaint out of _anyone_.” The table resounded with a ‘yes ma’am’ in unison and we quietly finished our breakfast.

After breakfast, Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, and I put on our coats and waved goodbye to Mr. Weasley from the living room. The three of us grabbed hands and were off, feeling like I was passing through very tiny tube in between the two of them, before feeling my feet hit a cobblestone road.

“Diagon Alley?” Ginny asked. “I thought you said we needed to go to the market?”

“Oh no, I just made that up because it was something that none of the boys would want to tag along for. I wanted to try to get Dad something nice for Christmas. We always say no gifts, but he’s been working so hard this year,” she stared off down the street, getting lost in her thoughts for a moment.

After a depressing trip to Gringotts where I saw the family had the smallest savings amount I’d ever seen, we spent the rest of the afternoon rummaging through stores to look for a present for Mr. Weasley. She had wanted to buy him nice, new robes for work, but after glancing at the price she passed them off as “not being that nice anyways.” After a few hours, she settled on a secondhand watch that had a brown leather strap.

We returned home right after six to find all the boys except Percy to be completely smashed in the living room. An empty bottle of firewhiskey sat on the coffee table, with a newly opened one sitting next to it. Fred took a chug from the bottle, “And I said ‘Be gone with you gnome!’” He mimicked a kick that made all of them erupt with howls.

“Having fun are we?” Mrs. Weasley had finally made our presence known. All the boys whipped around to see the three of us standing in the kitchen, a eerie quiet had fallen over the room.

“Molly! We were just, uh, having a bit of fun. Some Christmas cheer! How was the market?” Mr. Weasley wore a smile, but even I could sense the fear in his eyes.

Mrs. Weasley glared at him, and then turned her attention to the rest of the boys, “You all will stop drinking now and help me with dinner. Except for you Fred, I don’t need you breaking anything.” The boys groaned, except for Fred who just raised the bottle to her and tipped it back into his mouth. Mrs. Weasley whipped her wand at the bottle and it whizzed across the room and into her hand.

“Hey!” Fred complained, but Mrs. Weasley just rolled her eyes and took the bottle into the kitchen with her.

Half an hour later, the ten of us were sitting at the dinner table enjoying Mrs. Weasley’s delicious French onion soup. After a long day out in the London cold, this soup was warming me up perfectly. The boys were still loud and obnoxious from what must have been a long day drinking, but Mrs. Weasley didn’t seem to mind since all the chores had been completed. We all placed our bowls into the sink to be washed by the magical scrubber and returned to the living room.

“I’m off to bed, and I recommend you all get on soon! Don’t stay up all night!” Mrs. Weasley said to us as she began to climb the stairs. “We won’t” all of us sang in unison. She said goodnight and made her way up, Mr. Weasley following close behind, but not before flicking his wand, which caused the bottle of firewhiskey to fly on to the coffee table.

George snatched it off the table instantly, which evoked a whine from Fred, “Shut it! You’ve already drunk nearly a quarter of it. You _are_ the resident alcoholic.” He downed a bit of it and then tried to pass it to Percy, who just rolled his eyes and apparated somewhere. George moved to pass it on, which just happened to be me. I took the bottle from him, our hands touching accidentally, which caused us both to glance at each other briefly. He looked away quickly, turning red in the face.

The fact that he couldn’t even look at me for more than two seconds filled me with rage. I raised the bottle to my lips and downed as much of it as I could, pulling it away to see the whole room staring except for George. I passed it on to Bill, but Fred complained, “Save some for the rest of us will ya?”

“You’ve got a head start you ass wipe!” I snapped at him. Bill spit some of his drink out from laughing so hard at my comment to Fred, and then passed the bottle on to Ginny who took a swig about as large as mine. We continued to pass the bottle between the seven of us until it was empty, and I was feeling great by the end of it.

The alcohol was coursing through my veins, making me feel extremely warm by this fire. Starting to sweat, I raised my arms and lifted my sweater over my head, just leaving me in the black tank top I was wearing underneath. Fred, Bill, Ron, and Harry all stared at me, and Fred did very little to hide that he was staring directly at my chest.

George rolled his eyes and glared at me, “Oh real subtle, Evie.”

“Excuse me?” I retorted.

He leaned forward, with darkness in his eyes I had never seen before, “You’re trying so hard to make me jealous, so now you resort to this? To making all of them practically lust after you in front of me? You’re unbelievable.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, “I’m just hot George, and I’m literally sweating sitting by the fire here. You’re fucking delusional if you think I’m doing anything to make you jealous.”

“Oh so you haven’t been flirting with Bill this whole time? I’m just making that up, am I?” he spat at me.

“You are making shit up! But if I were flirting with him, it wouldn’t matter anyways now would it? You made sure of that.” I stared him directly in the eyes, refusing to be the first one to break eye contact.

He broke first, standing up and storming out of the room. There was a tangible awkwardness that stayed in the air. Fred cleared his throat, “Well, party’s over then I suppose. See you all in the morning.”

Fred got up and had made his way over to the stairs when Ron squeaked out, “Yeah, uh I think Harry and I are just going to, erm, go. Not because of what just happened! But because we’re tired, right?” Harry shrugged and then nodded frantically after catching Ron's gaze. They scrambled to their feet and booked it up the stairs.

Ginny turned to me and winked, “I think I’m going to go lay down as well. I’ll see you in a bit Evie, goodnight Bill.”

Then there was the two of us, alone, and I was completely embarrassed. The last thing I wanted was for Bill to know that there was any weirdness between George and I because I didn’t want him to feel like I was using him.

“I’m sorry about my brother, he can be a real dick sometimes,” he said after a few moments of silence.

I chuckled, “You can say that again.”

“Well this kind of works out though,” he laughed, “Now we actually have time to talk about curse-breaking. So what do you want to know?”

“Hmmm,” I had to think about this for a moment because my brain was in a million different places, and none of them were curse-breaking. “Well, what’s the coolest part of the job?”

“Coolest part of the job?” he smiled at me, “Well, all of it is pretty cool. I get to dress how I want and spend my days looking for treasure basically. The pay is pretty decent, and I love working in Egypt- the magic there is unbelievable. It’s different, it’s older and more complex than what we learn today in my opinion. I think if Egyptian wizards wanted to take over the entire wizarding world, they could do it in a matter of months. It’s old magic, and it’s very strong magic. It makes my job challenging, but it’s so worth it.”

“What’s the scariest thing you’ve experienced then?”

He laughed even harder, waving his wand, which summoned a bottle of wine. Two glasses flew forward with a floating corkscrew. The cork came off and the wine poured itself perfectly into the glasses before gently floating down to the table. Bill handed me a glass, and took a sip of his own before he continued, “I’ve seen plenty of terrifying things, but one of the worst was when we entered a tomb. There were tons of gold and other rare items that hadn’t been seen for centuries, but it was well guarded. Many traps and curses- I thought I had taken care of them all, but the one I didn’t almost killed me. It was quite a surprise to me when the mummy itself started chasing me down the corridor! Think you could handle something like that?”

I downed my entire glass and set it on the table, the bottle lifting to refill it automatically, “Of course I can, I’m not afraid of anything.”

“Oh you aren’t? I don’t buy it, everyone is afraid of something. What was your boggart?” he smirked at me.

I picked up my glass and held it, the screams of George being tortured filling my head again. “My boggart was something stupid, and besides, I’m sure it’s changed by now seeing that I’m not afraid of it anymore.” I downed my drink again.

“Maybe there’s something else you should be afraid of,” he placed his hand on my thigh and moved closer to me.

I stared at his hand and then back to his eyes, “What- you think I should be afraid of you?”

He brushed my hair out of my face, holding behind my head as he brought his lips next to my ear to whisper, “I think you should be afraid of what I would do to you if I had the chance.”

My heart was racing. I stammered, “What if- what if I give you the chance?”

He looked me in the eyes and smiled, pulling me closer and closer to his lips. I closed my eyes, ready to let it happen, but my conscience got in the way so I turned my head at the last second. He chuckled, “I knew you were afraid.”

“No, it’s not that it’s just- it’s George. He and I had a falling out on Friday and I just feel like I’d be using you to get back at him.” I pulled myself away from him, feeling incredibly flustered and unable to meet his gaze.

Bill took a sip of his wine and smiled at me, “I know that.”

“Wait what?”

He laughed and took another sip before placing his glass down, “Of course I know you and George had something going on. I saw it from the way he looked at me when I had my arm around you at the station. Not to mention how he’s been acting since we got back. The one thing that’s different this holiday is that you’re here, so I knew it must have to do with you. Then that little blow up of his tonight confirmed it for me. I’ve flirted with you even more because of the reaction it gets out of him, it’s funny seeing him so mad.”

He’s known this whole time? And he’s known I’ve been flirting with him to make him mad? He’s known I’ve been using him and he just doesn’t care? “Wait, if you’ve known I’ve been flirting to make him mad, why play into it? Doesn’t that upset you?”

“Evie, you’re beautiful and an incredible witch, but I’m not trying to date you. I mean, you’d be an incredible catch, but I’m not looking to settle down for a while. You’re fun to flirt with, it’s fun to make my brother mad, and I think we’d have a lot of fun if we hooked up.” He placed his hand back on my thigh, scooting closer to me again.

“So just to be clear,” I said as he moved closer to me, “This wouldn't mean anything and it’s just for fun? No one will ever know?”

“Mhm,” he mumbled as he began to kiss my neck.

I gasped as I felt his tongue graze my skin, “And- and- just to be clear, you are okay with me having been with George?”

He chuckled against my neck and pulled back, grabbing my chin and tilting my head up to look at him, “Baby, use me to get over him.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck and pushed my lips against his, letting the alcohol lead me. Our mouths opened and our tongues danced together, becoming more aggressive with each other by the second. He grabbed my hips and pulled me onto his lap so I would straddle him, moaning into my mouth softly as I grinded against him. He pulled my tank top down, exposing my black lace bra. He began to kiss his way down my neck as he quickly undid my bra with one hand while the shoving his thumb into my mouth with the other.

He pulled back and stared at my exposed chest then looked up at me, “Upstairs, now.”

He grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the stairs so quickly I barely had time to grab my sweater and cover myself as we climbed up towards his room. “Wait but what about Percy?” I asked as we reached the fourth landing.

He opened the door to an empty room, “I have no idea- I guess he really has been sleeping in the attic with the ghoul.” He shut the door behind me and grabbed the edges of my tank top, lifting it over my head and taking my bra off with it. He was immediately on me, cupping one of my tits while taking the other into his mouth, swirling my nipple around his tongue. I gasped at the warmth of it, a moan escaping from me.

I slapped my hand over my mouth and pulled him back by his long hair, “I don’t know how I’m going to keep quiet, I don’t know if I can!”

He smirked and pulled his wand out, waving it at the door, “You don’t have to be quiet now baby, in fact, I want you to be loud for me.”

He took off his shirt, showing off his incredible abs, before pulling me hard against his chest and kissing me again. He pulled me over on the bed and flipped me around, holding me in between his legs with my back against his chest. “We don’t need these,” he whispered in my ear as he undid my jeans. I pulled them off and threw them to the growing pile of our clothes on the floor. “Don’t need these either, though they are adorable,” he said about my black lace thong as he began to slide it down.

I felt self-conscious sitting naked like this in front of an older man, wrapped in his arms. Suddenly he gripped my throat with one hand and brought the middle and ring finger of the other to my mouth, “Open.” I took his fingers in my mouth, sucking on them and swirling my tongue around them. “Now open your legs for me beautiful.”

I did as I was told; slowly letting my legs fall apart. I felt his chin on my shoulder as he looked down at my fully exposed body. “So fucking perfect,” he whispered as he kissed my neck. He moved his hand down, placing the fingers that had just been in my mouth right against my clit. He slowly moved them in a circle, causing me to breathe shallowly as he played. He rubbed his fingers up and down my slit and moaned into my ear, “You’re so wet for me already and I’ve barely touched you, how cute.”

He teased my entrance, barely putting his middle finger in before pulling it out and playing with my clit again. He was quicker now with his circles, adding more pressure too, causing me to moan and squirm in his arms. Without a warning, he plunged his finger deep into me, a whimper squeaked out of me. He moved slowly, listening to how wet I was before adding another finger. I cried out at the stretch of it, feeling him laugh into my shoulder.

He picked up the pace; fingering me faster and making my moans get even louder. I could feel myself getting wetter and starting to build. He kissed my shoulder as he moved even faster, enjoying every bit of control he had over me. His other hand reached down and started to circle my clit, matching the pace of his fingers. I couldn’t take it anymore, “Fuck!” I cried out as I clenched around his fingers.

“You’re so sexy.” He brought his fingers into his mouth and then put them in mine, “You taste so fucking good darling. I can’t take it.”

He pulled himself from behind me and stood at the edge of the bed, undoing his belt and shoving his ripped black jeans and black briefs down to the ground. I opened my mouth and leaned forward to take him in, but he pushed me back on to the bed, “No, I need to feel you right now.”

He crawled between my legs and positioned himself at my entrance, rubbing his shaft against my wetness for a moment before pushing into me. “Fuck, you’re so tight,” he groaned. He started slow, making me gasp every time he pulled himself almost all the way out, before slamming it all the way back in. Soon he was pounding me, looking me into the eyes as I tried not to scream.

A devilish grin spread across his face. He grabbed my legs and pulled them up onto his shoulders, making me wince when he slammed into me the next time. “You feel that? Can you take it babygirl?” he taunted me. I was moaning like crazy, feeling myself begin to tighten around him. “Oh I don’t think you can take it,” he teased.

“I can take it! I can take it!” I yelled.

He chuckled, “Oh yeah? Let’s see then.”

He picked up the pace; pounding into me so hard I could feel him hitting the very back of me. My eyes were rolling back into my head from the pure pleasure of how deep he was, and he was moaning louder and louder with me. I could feel myself getting so close, ready to cover him with my release, just a few more seconds and I was going to explode.

“Bill, fuck, please don’t stop!” I begged. He went even faster, reaching down to circle my clit with his thumb as I was sent completely over the edge. I screamed his name as I tightened around him, hearing how wet I was on his cock as he continued to pound me.

Just then, I heard “What the fuck.” Bill stopped and I looked up at him, but he was already staring at the door. I slowly turned my head with my heart ready to burst out of my chest, and my biggest fear at that moment was realized- there in the doorway stood George.


End file.
